Lake Grove road reopens after fuel truck overturns, police say

Flames shot up as high as nearby trees after an oil tanker carrying 3,700 gallons of fuel in Lake Grove collided with two vehicles Saturday morning, engulfing at least one vehicle — but there were no reported injuries, Suffolk County fire officials said.

The collision closed a busy commercial stretch of Route 25 / Middle Country Road in Lake Grove for most of the day.

The truck overturned near the corner of Main Avenue about 6:15 a.m., Suffolk County fire officials said. Route 25 was closed between Stony Brook Road / Hawkins Avenue and Wood Road until 3 p.m. The eastbound and westbound lanes at Middle Country Road were later opened, officials said.

The Centereach Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire. The cause of the accident was unclear, officials said. Additional details about the vehicles involved were not available. Centereach Fire Chief of Department Robert L. Corley declined to comment.

Nearby residents Frank Russo and his girlfriend Emily McDonald, of Wood Road, said they were woken in the early morning hours by the sound of an explosion.

“It was like a loud ‘Bang!’ and then a few minutes later, there was something that sounded like a loud ‘Boom!’ ” Russo said.

The couple went outside later to a fire with flames shooting up into the air.

“It’s a miracle no one was hurt,” Russo said.

Workers from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation along with Brookhaven Town fire marshals were at the scene Saturday morning. Responders used small bulldozers and shovels to clean up the site. Power lines were down at Middle Country Road and Coles Drive.

With Candice Ferrette