Fire that damaged ambulances, building at Emergency Ambulance Service in Freeport probed

Investigators from the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office have still not determined a cause of a Saturday blaze that heavily damaged a commercial building housing a private ambulance service in Freeport, but continue to focus on maintenance work on one of the vehicles as a factor.

Chief Fire Marshal Michael F. Uttaro said Monday that at least 10 ambulances and ambulettes — and, as many as 16 — were destroyed as a result of fire, heat, smoke and water damage during the blaze that also destroyed much of the building housing the Emergency Ambulance Service Inc., at 30 Commercial St. in Freeport.

He said though the cause of the fire has been determined to be "non-suspicious." The exact origin of the blaze, which forced workers at the site to scramble outside to safety, has yet to be determined by investigators.

A company spokesman who declined to identify himself said Monday that the ambulance service had no comment on the fire, citing the pending investigation. Additional calls to the company's director of operations were not returned. 

"It came in as a reported vehicle fire," Uttaro said Monday, and that the blaze broke out "in the immediate vicinity where one of the ambulances or ambulettes was being worked on."

"There's conflicting information on whether it was up on a lift or not, but that's what we're looking at right now," he added.

Uttaro said the fire was reported via an automatic alarm at 11:07 a.m. and said firefighters from the Freeport Fire Department — whose firehouse is a few hundred feet from the building — were on scene in "about one minute." But even though they got there quickly, Uttaro said,  "as soon as they got there it was already getting away from them."

And to make matters worse, Uttaro added, oxygen cylinders used by the ambulance company for transport began to cook off in the heat — and explode. Firefighters had to back off from the immediate area, Uttaro said, due to exploding cylinders and flying shrapnel.

Officials said it took about 150 firefighters from 26 departments to bring the fire under control by about 2 p.m. Four firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, officials said.

Two Freeport firefighters and a Northwell medic were taken to hospitals for treatment of smoke inhalation and were later released, officials said. A third firefighter was treated at the scene for a minor facial injury.

Uttaro estimated the building measures about 100 feet by 300 feet and said a good portion of it will probably need to be razed as a result of "a partial structural collapse" due to the fire.

He said the fire marshal's office had no prior reports of any violations at the site and, in fact, said the company had installed a new fire alarm system last year — and that fire marshals who tested the new system last fall found it to be in good working order.

Officials with the state Department of Environmental Conversation said they were notified, but did not respond to the scene. No runoffs or drains were affected and firefighters did not use any fire retardant foam, DEC officials said. 

Building inspectors were also on scene to assess damage to remaining portions of the structure to make those areas safe for investigators and cleanup workers, Uttaro said. 

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”