Fire at Sunrise Village in Sayville kills woman, 90, cops say

A 90-year-old Sayville woman died Sunday in an early morning fire inside her unit in the hamlet’s Sunrise Village retirement community.

The victim was identified as Elizabeth M. Sclafani of Revere Drive.

Suffolk County homicide and arson investigators were at the scene Sunday afternoon trying to piece together the circumstances surrounding the blaze.

Following a preliminary investigation, Suffolk County police detectives said they believed the blaze is noncriminal in nature.

Sayville Fire Chief Christopher R. Chester said the fire, which also destroyed Sclafani’s one-story unit and spread to two others on either side, was reported at 4:19 a.m.

One of the adjoining units was vacant and anyone in the unit on the other side escaped unharmed, officials said.

Police arrived on the scene first and kicked in the front door but could not enter because of the extreme heat and smoke inside, said Sayville Fire Commissioner Don Corkery.

“I saw the smoke coming up and I said, ‘Oh my God,’ ” said neighbor Doris Carinci. She said she did not know Sclafani, adding that the victim used to be a regular at the community’s twice-weekly exercise classes but hadn’t attended recently.

A family member picking through Sclafani’s gutted home declined to comment Sunday.

Chester said when firefighters got to the complex there was “fire throughout the unit.”

Investigators believe the blaze started in Sclafani’s unit, Chester said.

“There was an extremely heavy volume of fire to extinguish.”

Elizabeth White, a spokeswoman for the Sayville Community Ambulance corps, said Sclafani was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.

Chester said there was fire damage to a bedroom in one of the adjoining town houses. In the other adjoining unit, there was “a small amount of fire that went through a wall” he said.

Sunrise Village residents living near the fire were evacuated as firefighters worked for about two hours to bring the blaze under control, Chester said.

The chief said he did not know how many residents were evacuated but after the fire was extinguished they were allowed to return to their homes, except for anyone living in the adjoining town house where the wall was damaged.

He said Sclafani’s town house was destroyed.

Joan K. Wallace, 65, lives in the two-bedroom unit with the damaged wall. She said the fire also spread to her roof and that “the whole roof is gone and the bedroom is gone. The kitchen is salvageable and the living room . . .”

She and her husband, Donald Koch, 69, are staying at a Marriott in Holtsville until they can determine their next step. The real problem for them right now, she said, is finding her cat, Juno.

Wallace said she and Koch were rescued by police, adding that officers helped her get out of bed, into her wheelchair, and safely outside. She cannot walk because she has Parkinson’s disease.

The couple were alerted to the fire when Koch began choking on smoke, she said, adding that Juno ran away during all the commotion.

“He was hiding in the bedroom when the firemen started breaking in the ceiling and he ran out the back door,” Wallace said of Juno. “I hope we can get him back.”

Wallace said she has lived in the complex for nine years and only knew Sclafani to say “hi” now and then.

Another neighbor, Eleanor Duncker, said that like Carinci, she was awakened by the bright lights from the many fire trucks that responded. Duncker said she watched from the window until she saw another neighbor run into the street wearing a nightgown and jacket.

A neighbor told Duncker her smoke alarm went off, but after ruling out a fire in her own home and realizing it was coming from Sclafani’s unit, the woman pounded on the door. No one answered.

Corkery said all units in the complex are equipped with smoke detectors, but there are no emergency response buttons, so residents must call emergency services themselves.

Chester said five other fire departments responded to the scene in addition to the Suffolk County and Islip Town fire marshals, including West Sayville, Bohemia, Holbrook, Bay Port and Blue Point. Sayville Community Ambulance also assisted firefighters and neighbors.

There are 213 attached homes in Sunrise Village, a gated community for residents age 55 and older.

With David M. Schwartz