Fire at former Kings Park Psychiatric Center site knocked down
A fire in the loading dock of one of the buildings at the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center was quickly extinguished Sunday afternoon, fire officials said.
The Smithtown Fire Department got a call at 2:57 p.m. reporting a small fire in the roof of the loading dock area of Building 7 near Kings Park Boulevard, said Kings Park Fire Chief Dan Guilfoil. The fire was under control at 3:22 p.m., he said. There were no injuries.
The cause of the blaze is unknown, but the department's Arson Squad is investigating, Guilfoil said. Though investigators found no evidence of any accelerants, Guilfoil said it could have been youths who started the blaze.
"Probably just kids; they get into the psych center all the time," said Guilfoil.
The 111-year-old psychiatric hospital closed in 1996 and the 521-acre site is now state parkland. An effort to demolish several structures on the property is ongoing.
Guilfoil said that Building 7 does contain some asbestos, but "the area we were operating in, we didn't see any. There's no danger."
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
