Firefighters rescue man from basement in burning Lynbrook home

Firefighters rescued an unconscious man Sunday with burns across his face and torso from the basement of a burning home in Lynbrook, officials said.

Lynbrook firefighters arrived on the scene at 1:30 a.m. to see smoke coming from a home on Shipherd Avenue, just off Sunrise Highway, and fire blowing out a basement window, authorities said.

Several residents of the home alerted responding firefighters that another resident was trapped in the basement, said Chief of Department Michael Brooks.

A team of five firefighters forced open a basement door and searched through heavy smoke without the protection of a hose line to find the man, Brooks said.

The victim was discovered by former Lynbrook Fire Captain Scott Bien and firefighter James Merkel in the kitchen of a basement apartment, Brooks said. He was removed from the home where EMTs began performing CPR to save the man's life, officials said.

"He was unconscious when we brought him out and they immediately began CPR when they got him on the stretcher in the back of the house," Brooks said. "And they continued that in the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. The quick actions of the members definitely helped. With something like this, every second counts."

The victim was first taken to Mount Sinai-South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside and later moved to the Burn Center at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow where he was in stable condition, officials said.

Five other residents of the home escaped without injury, Brooks said.

The source of the fire is under investigation by the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office and the Nassau police department's Arson Squad, Brooks said.

A hose line was stretched into the basement to extinguish the fire shortly thereafter, Brooks said.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.