Firefighters extinguish blaze at Big Valley Nursery in Glen Head

A fire at a Glen Head nursery on Wednesday morning caused heavy damage to a storage building on the property and injured three firefighters, authorities said.

About 150 firefighters from area companies responded to the 8:14 a.m. call for a fire in a storage building at the Big Valley Nursery on Cedar Swamp Road. 

The fire was contained to the storage building, which held landscaping and gardening supplies. The building partially collapsed, authorities said. The blaze was brought under control in two hours.

The three firefighters who suffered minor injuries were treated at the scene, said Michael Uttaro, Nassau fire marshal. No other injuries were reported.

Police continued to divert traffic on Cedar Swamp Road and Glen Head Road in cold and windy conditions after 11:40 a.m. 

Glenwood Fire Chief Donald Sinski said they received a call about a building fire around 8:15 a.m. Engine 531 was the first to arrive and found fire coming from the front of the storage building.

Sinski said firefighters pulled items out of the building to expose the fire. 

Two firefighters on a cherry picker from Rescue Company and Ladder Co. 1 from the Roslyn Fire Department were continuing to blast water at the storage unit to prevent any hot spots from igniting.

The fire did not spread to other buildings and did not affect the nursery storefront.

"Everybody worked well together and nobody got [seriously] injured," Sinski said. 

Firefighters stopped putting out hot spots by 12:40 p.m. and a PSEG crew was seen attempting to restore power.

Nassau fire marshal investigators along with the Nassau police arson/bomb squad are investigating the cause of the fire.

A Nassau hazmat team was monitoring the air quality around the burned building, which contained fertilizer, Uttaro said. No air quality issues had been found, he said. The state Department of Conservation also was on the scene.

Traffic, which had been closed in both directions, was restored on Cedar Swamp Road by 2 p.m., Nassau police said.