Officials: Lake Ronkonkoma fire is arson

A Lake Ronkonkoma man and his two teenage sons barely escaped early Tuesday from an arson fire that damaged much of his two-story home, authorities said.

Suffolk police said they were investigating the fire and the possible vandalism to two of the family's cars.

The fire began on the porch of the blue, wood-frame home about 1:40 a.m. and may have been started with available materials there, said Deputy Insp. Harold Jantzen, who commands the major crimes bureau. He said investigators found no flammable liquids or materials used to accelerate the fire.

Anthony Rooney, 40, said Tuesday he and his sons, ages 19 and 15, fled from the home after he noticed the fire. He said he jumped from a second-floor window.

"I was dead asleep" in an upstairs bedroom when the fire started, Rooney said. He was awakened by a fire alarm and ran to the top of the staircase, where he saw an "orange glow" downstairs.

Rooney said he yelled to his two sons that there was a fire and "they came running out of their rooms in a panic." Once outside, Rooney realized one of the family's three teacup Yorkies, Sierra, was still in a second-story bedroom. He ran inside to get the dog.

"The smoke was getting thick, and I was getting winded from running this way and that way after the dog," Rooney said. He opened a window and tossed the dog to his older son.

Rooney jumped from the second-story window and said he hurt his back and neck when he landed on a bird bath.

Jantzen said arson investigators consider the fire suspicious. A police statement said arson squad detectives had determined the fire was started "by an unknown person or persons who used available materials" on the porch. There was no dollar estimate of the damage Tuesday, officials said.

Police said both Rooney's Hummer and BMW, which were parked near the house on Weichers Street, were damaged by someone who scratched an obscenity onto the sides of the vehicles.

Fire departments from Ronkonkoma, Lakeland, Holbrook, Nesconset and Holtsville came to fight the blaze, the county Fire Marshal's Office said.

Destroyed inside, Rooney said, were heirlooms like mounted animal heads, which were souvenirs from hunting trips with his father and sons. "A lot of memories are gone," he said.

As he watched investigators move through his home, he said he felt lucky his sons hadn't been injured. "I'll never forget the terror in my sons' faces," Rooney said. "That's something a father should never see."

Police said anyone with information could call the Suffolk County Arson Squad at 631-852-6024 or Crime Stoppers at 800-220-8477.

With Gary Dymski