Fire Engulfs Apartment On Main Street

An afternoon fire on Main Street engulfed a second story apartment sending one man to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The fire, which began at approximately 2:30 p.m. started in a dwelling above

Sergeant Alfano of the Suffolk County Police Department, who was on the scene, said a 51 year-old male was taken to Stony Brook Hospital with second degree burns and non-life threatening injuries.

Glenn McDermott, of Kings Park was headed to on Main Street with his sister, when his sister saw smoke.

“I thought I should probably see what is going on since I just saw the fire department driving to do the Christmas thing,” said McDermott.

“There was an occupant by the door, on the curb, and I noticed that the electrical lines (to the building) were burning and they started sparking heavily,” he said.

McDermott, who said he works in real estate and contraction, said he realized they had little time to move the man to safety.

“I wanted to get the gentleman out of harm's way and the firefighters out of harm's way” said McDermott who, along with firefighters, helped get the man across the street until an ambulance arrived.

“Tiles from the roof had hit the gurney as we were bringing him the gurney and were burning,” said McDermott who described the injured gentleman as very large and said it took him and six firefighters to lift the man into the gurney.

Much of downtown Main Street was shut more than two hours. The Long Island Power Authority was on the scene and cut power to the affected area for about two hours. Power in the high school was also cut, forcing a wrestling tournament to be cancelled.

, who were on their annual provided trucks and manpower and were still able to keep Santa on schedule.

East Northport, Smithtown and surrounding companies help assist in putting out the blaze.

This is the second fire this year that occured on Main Street. The fire is under investigation by the Arson Squad.