Café La Bella Notte in South Farmingdale badly damaged by 'suspicious fire,' Nassau fire marshal says

A South Farmingdale coffee shop, closed at the time, was badly damaged in a Tuesday night fire — whose cause was deemed suspicious.

'Right now, the fire is currently being investigated by the fire marshal's office, and the Nassau County police bomb squad," said Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro.

"And the cause is suspicious and there are still further investigations" to be conducted, he said.

The approximately 9:35 p.m. blaze that tore through the Café La Bella Notte on Merritts Road was confined to that one venue, though smoke could have entered the other three stores in that row from shared spaces below the roof, or cock lofts, which these kinds of older buildings may have.

Though "the fire was held, there was significant damage to the store, to the cafe," Uttaro said.

Five fire departments, with a total of about 60 firefighters, got the blaze "under control within about 30 minutes," according to Uttaro.

The Nassau District Attorney’s Office and the Nassau Police Department's 8th Precinct also are probing the blaze, according to Donald Mormino, the South Farmingdale Fire Department spokesman.

The preholiday fire in the café, which only opened about a year ago, shuttered two of the stores in that plaza; one shop was empty.

Mormino said: “You had smoke and water damage to the adjoining stores, one being a vacant store next door, the other being a nail salon, immediately next door, and you had a pastrami sandwich place, a food establishment, which also had extensive smoke damage.”

“They’ll be closed for a period of time,” he said, as both health and building inspectors will have to evaluate whether they are safe.

No injuries were reported.