Garage fire evacuates Long Beach building

A car fire in an underground parking garage injured two firefighters and forced the evacuation of a six-story apartment building on Shore Road in Long Beach on Wednesday night, a fire official said.

Long Beach Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins said smoke led to the evacuation of the 250-unit building between Neptune and Roosevelt boulevards. Two Long Beach firefighters suffered leg injuries, Kemins said. One was treated at the scene, the other at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside. Both injuries were minor.

No residents were injured.

Kemins said the call reporting the fire was received at about 8:50 p.m. The fire was contained to the car, which was about 150 feet back from the street, Kemins told Newsday.

The garage is equipped with an automatic sprinkler system, which Kemins said activated and helped contain the fire.

Kemins said it appears the fire began in the engine compartment of the vehicle.

He said the cause does not appear suspicious, but the cause of the fire was unknown.

"The fire damage was contained to the vehicle itself," Kemins said. "Mostly, it was a voluntary evacuation -- and once we got people out of the building, out on the street, we kept them there to make sure they were safe."

He said the situation with smoke and heat from the fire was escalated because of the enclosed space.

The situation was under control within an hour, he said.

The fire prompted volunteers from Long Beach, Point Lookout-Lido, Island Park, Baldwin, Oceanside and Lawrence-Cedarhurst to respond to the scene, mostly because of the size of the building, Kemins said.