A lit cigarette on a windowsill ignited a fire at Lemon Tree Unisex Haircutters at 110 Northern Boulevard on Friday that closed eastbound traffic on Northern Bouulevard between Jayson Avenue and Great Neck Road for more than an hour.
Nassau County Fire Marshal Joseph Whittaker said the fire was an accident, caused when someone placed a lit cigarette on a windowsill behind Lemon Tree.
The fire began when the cigarette touched a wooden plank that covered the bathroom window, he said.
Puffs of black and gray smoke billowed from a rear window at Lemon Tree Unisex Haircutters at about 3 p.m.
The smoke’s scent prompted the dispatching of Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department Companies 3, 4 and 5, which extinguished the fire within 30 minutes of their arrival. The episode shut down Northern Boulevard between Jayson Avenue and Great Neck Road until about 4:30 p.m.
Company 5 arrived on the scene only after confirmation that the smoke rooted from a “reported structure fire.”
Engine 8740 of Company 4 on Northern Boulevard was the first to arrive at the scene and report the smoke.
Fire fighters extended two hose lines and contained the fire to a rear bathroom in the store before its dissipation.
All fire units were released from the scene by 4:15 p.m. A cleanup crew was restoring the store’s rooftop and cleaning debris by 5:45 p.m. The store remains intact.
Efforts to reach Lemon Tree employers or management were unavailing.
