Two women hurt in Hempstead fire

Two women were injured -- one gravely -- in an apartment fire in Hempstead Thursday morning, Nassau County fire officials said.

Nassau fire officials said both women, ages 65 and 45, were taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.

The fire broke out at about 10:40 a.m. in a third-floor apartment at 100 Terrace Ave., a block-wide, six-story housing project, near Bedell Street, officials said.

The blaze appears to be an electrical fire, but it was still under investigation, said Hempstead Fire Chief Charles W. Hendry.

The 65-year-old, Eleanor Logan, was rescued from a bedroom with internal burns and smoke inhalation, by firefighters Matt Taylor and Connor Geraghty. She was in critical condition, Hendry said.

"She was in really bad condition," Hendry said.

The 45-year-old, Theresa Bethea, rescued from the hallway by cops, sustained burns to her buttocks and legs. She was not as badly hurt, but her condition wasn't immediately available. The women's names were not released.

Fire departments from Hempstead, West Hempstead, Uniondale, South Hempstead, Roosevelt and Rockville Centre responded, along with the volunteer ambulance corps from Mineola, said Vincent McManus, a supervisor with the Nassau fire marshal's office.

The fire took about 20 minutes to bring under control, a Hempstead fire official said.

McManus said the apartment itself had "considerable damage." Hendry said the unit is uninhabitable.