Firefighters battle blaze in Ocean Beach

A dozen fire departments battled high winds as they fought a blaze that broke out in two Ocean Beach homes Thursday afternoon, Suffolk fire officials said.

What might have been handled by the local fire department during the summer took about 150 first responders five hours to put out Thursday, as help arrived by boats even two hours into the fire, said Ian Levine, Ocean Beach assistant fire chief.

"The Fire Island ferries brought some people over," he said. "We had people meeting at Timber Point marina on the other side being brought over by police boat.

"During the summer, we'd have 100 firefighters just in our own department. But because it's this time of year, the resources and manpower are very small."

The fire, near 258 Wilmot Rd., was reported by a 911 caller about 3:30 p.m., according to the Ocean Beach Fire Department.

Flames started at one house and the wind helped spread it to the adjoining building, said Ocean Beach Police Chief George Hesse.

The two homes were unoccupied, fire officials said, and the fire, contained by 4:36 p.m., was put out by 8 p.m.

"One house is completely down to the ground," Hesse said. "The second house is totally gutted, but it's still pretty much standing. But it's still a total loss."

Suffolk County arson detectives were on the scene.

Levine said the cause of the fire was deemed electrical.

"Wires were arcing on the poles outside and were spotted by witnesses at the scene," he said. "They heard a loud pop or explosion. Then the house was on fire."

Winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour made extinguishing the fire more difficult, said Ocean Beach Third Assistant Chief Chris Lincoln.

"If we hadn't been there, a good swath of Ocean Beach could have gone because of the 25-knot winds," Lincoln said.

Responding companies included Fair Harbor, Kismet, Saltaire, Ocean Bay Park, Point O Woods, Cherry Grove, Fire Island Pines, Davis Park, Bay Shore and West Islip, as well as the Suffolk County Marine Bureau and Islip Town Office of Emergency Management, Ocean Beach fire chiefs said.

Bay Shore Ambulance and Islip Exchange Ambulance companies also assisted, according to Firecom said.

Last month a blaze destroyed the nearby Fire Island Pines nightclub the Pavilion. After that, the Fire Island fire departments upgraded their communications with each other.

"We all worked together at the Pines only a couple weeks at the Pavilion," Lincoln said. "Now we have an islandwide radio system so we can talk to one another."

The fire also came on a day when the village had seven police officers on duty instead of one or two, Hesse said.

They had just finished making sure the village's 600 homes were locked up for the winter when the fire call came, the chief said.