A fire to a shuttered restaurant and catering facility on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset on Friday morning took firefighters from several departments more than two hours to extinguish, officials said.
Manhasset-Lakeville firefighters from companies 3, 4, and 5 and an ambulance unit, as well as assistance from departments from New Hyde Park, Great Neck Vigilant and Great Neck Alert, responded to 911 calls of smoke emanating from the roof of the former Bombay Palace facility at around 9:40 a.m.
Manhasset-Lakeville Deputy Chief Kirk Candan said workers who arrived at the former catering hall, which closed at 380 Northern Boulevard in 2003, initially reported smoke coming from the rear of the building.
“Sometimes in the winter you find that it’s just steam, but this was a bit more peculiar,” he said.
The heaviest fire was on the second floor of the building, Candan said. Two hose lines were stretched to put out the main body of the fire, and firefighters conducted “an extensive overhaul” of the property,” Candan said.
The building was unoccupied at the time, but Candan said the department received calls of a vagrant living inside.
“Our main duty is to save a life, and we were able to operate on the interior and didn’t find anyone,” Candan said. “It was an empty building, so a lot of the stuff in there was junk that had accumulated over the years. It looked like people had dumped garbage in there.”
The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Nassau County Fire Marshals’ office. Candan declined to comment on where the fire could have originated.
During the response, trucks from departments in Albertson, Garden City Park, Port Washington, Roslyn and Williston Park were dispatched to Manhasset-Lakeville fire houses for backup assistance.
