Police ID man killed in Elmont fire
Firefighters battle a blaze Monday evening that destroyed a house on Madison Street in Elmont, where a 33-year-old man was found dead. (Dec. 20,2010) Credit: Lou Minutoli
Police have identified a man whose body was found after a house fire in Elmont Monday.
Douglas Kloock, 33, was killed in the fire, Nassau Police said Thursday.
Firefighters found Kloock's body inside a bathroom of the two-story colonial he shared with his parents on Madison Street, Vincent McManus of the county fire marshal's office said earlier this week.
The blaze appears to have started in the kitchen, but investigators haven't been able to more conclusively identify the origin of the fire, McManus said.
The fire prompted complaints that the 911 emergency system did not work as planned after several people who tried to report the fire were put on hold. Authorities said rescuers were on the scene about five minutes after the calls began Monday night.
Several residents said when they called to report the fire, which police said started at about 6 p.m., they were put on hold and heard a recording telling them to wait.
"It's pretty scary, you know, that when you really need them the most, they're not there," said Fabian Ramirez, 38, who lives next door to the burned-out home.
Nassau police spokesman Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said that soon after the fire started, 911 operators received several calls that registered as hang-ups.
Smith said the department will look into what may have caused the problems.
Monday night's glitch came just days after Nassau police moved their 911 call center to a new building in Westbury from its old spot below police headquarters in Mineola.
Between 6:10 and 6:14 p.m. on Monday, operators received eight calls from Madison Street that appeared to the operators to be callers hanging up, Smith said.
Three neighbors interviewed Tuesday afternoon said they tried calling Monday, but hung up after hearing the recording, some repeatedly.
Smith said callers should stay on the line because, if they hang up, they go to the end of the queue when they call back.
One of the callers was Kim Santoli, 45, who lives across the street from the home that burned, she said.
Santoli said her cell phone showed she called at 6:09 p.m. and waited for 46 seconds before hanging up. She said she called again at 6:10 p.m. and waited for more than a minute before hanging up again. She called again at 6:24 p.m. before hanging up. Her husband dialed the fire department directly.
"It was so frustrating, standing in the middle of the street dialing 911 and not being able to do anything about it," she said.
Ana McHugh, another caller who hung up after a getting a recording, said Monday night was not the first time she has had trouble getting through to report an emergency.
To demonstrate, she reached for her home phone in front of a reporter Tuesday and twice dialed 911. Each time a recording came on: "The next available operator will take your call."
With Kathy Drouin-Keith
'Success is zero deaths on the roadway' Newsday reporters spent this year examining the risks on Long Island's roads, where traffic crashes over a decade killed more than 2,100 people and seriously injured more than 16,000. This documentary is a result of that newsroom-wide effort.
'Success is zero deaths on the roadway' Newsday reporters spent this year examining the risks on Long Island's roads, where traffic crashes over a decade killed more than 2,100 people and seriously injured more than 16,000. This documentary is a result of that newsroom-wide effort.
