Valley Stream house fire reignites, officials say

Firefighters were called to a Valley Stream house fire twice — once Tuesday evening and again Wednesday morning, after the fire reignited, officials said.

The first call was for a basement fire at the home on Buscher Avenue at 6:21 p.m. Nassau County fire officials said firefighters from Valley Stream, Elmont, Malverne, Hewlett and Lynbrook responded.

Deanna Navarro, 33, said she was in the home alone around 6 p.m. Tuesday when she smelled smoke.

“It was coming from the basement,” she said Wednesday afternoon.

Her upstairs neighbor came down to knock on her windows and they were both able to escape the flames safely, she said.

Navarro, who lives with her husband and three daughters, ages 7, 12, and 14, was told to come back Wednesday to retrieve her belongings.

But they returned after the second fire to a charred and gutted home.

“We’re just trying to wrap our heads around this and see what we can do,” Navarro said. “ . . . We’re grateful to be alive.”

She said it was fortunate that her daughters weren’t home at the time. No serious injuries were reported.

Fire officials said Valley Stream firefighters were called back to the scene at 4:17 a.m. after the home reignited — and said that fire was quickly dealt with.

James Hickman, a division supervisor in the Nassau County fire marshal’s office, said the cause of the Tuesday night fire is believed to be electrical.

He said there’s a “good possibility” it was caused by a hot plate in the basement, but it could not be recovered from the home by investigators.

Hickman said the fire was accidental and no charges are expected. He did not know who had been using the hot plate.

Wednesday morning’s blaze, he said, was “an apparent re-ignition” of the previous fire.