Five New Hyde Park firefighters were injured early last Friday afternoon and hospitalized for smoke inhalation after being trapped in a basement fire at a house on Sixth Avenue, according to New Hyde Park Fire Department Chief John Willers.
Willers said four of the firefighters have been released from the hospital but one remained in Winthrop-University Hospital this week.
The five men were struggling to extinguish the flames in the basement when the blaze suddenly erupted around them.
“They were down in the basement and the fire flared up on them blocking their exit out of the basement,” Willers said.
Two of the firefighters managed to scramble out on the basement stairs, and one was pulled out by firefighters through the basement window. The other two were rescued by New Hyde Park volunteers who went back into the basement and carried them to safety.
“We regrouped and went back in to get them,” Willers said.
Two occupants of the house, an elderly man and his home health aide, got out of the house without injury after calling in the emergency.
The New Hyde Park Fire Department responded with 80 volunteers at the scene. Units from nine other fire departments assisted, with Floral Park, Bellerose Terrace and Stewart Manor sending fire trucks. Units from Garden City Park and Mineola were on stand-by to assist, while several other units sent ambulances, including Manhasset- Lakeville, Willers said.
A total of 125 firefighters brought the blaze under control approximately 30 minutes after arriving at the scene shortly before 1 p.m. on Friday.
The fire is not considered suspicious, according to Willers, but the county fire marshal’s department has yet to determine the cause.
