Suffolk officers save woman from Coram fire

A Suffolk County police officer was treated for smoke inhalation after he and a fellow officer rescued a woman from a house fire Thursday in Coram, police said.

The woman suffered minor burns to her right hand, police said. Both she and the officer who suffered smoke inhalation, Tony Napolitano, were treated at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, police said.

Police said Napolitano and Officer Mike Murnane responded to the house fire on Westfield Road at 5:16 p.m. and found the kitchen ablaze. Going in through the front door, the officers found resident Trudy Dinkel, 45, in the kitchen and pulled her from the house.

Police said the two officers then re-entered the house and attempted to extinguish the blaze, but were unsuccessful.

Heavy smoke forced the two from the home. Twenty-five firefighters from Middle Island, Gordon Heights and Coram brought the fire under control in 45 minutes.

Middle Island Fire department spokeswoman Debbie Tunjian said the fire began on the kitchen stove.

"It spread throughout the whole kitchen and up through the attic and roof," she said.

No other buildings were damaged, Tunjian said.