By Kathianne Boniello and Bryan Schwartzman
Smoke blackened the sky and could be seen for miles Saturday afternoon as fire engines screamed through Douglaston and Bayside, bringing 220 firefighters to battle a brush fire in the Alley Pond Park marsh that came dangerously close to homes and businesses before being extinguished.
The first firefighters arrived at the scene near the Long Island Expressway and Cross Island Parkway at 3:39 p.m. Flames spread to much of the 654-acre Alley Pond Park Preserve, said firefighter Joseph Leoncavallo.
But it took firefighters nearly three hours to quell the six-alarm fire in which no one was injured. The blaze was not considered suspicious.
The fire spread to about 100 acres of the park and the saltwater and fresh spring water wetlands, transforming the lush area into mud and charred reeds.
A city Parks Department spokesman said inspectors surveyed the park Sunday and found different types of living birds and no dead animals. He said the blaze damaged about three-fifths of Alley Pond Park.
Observers said that while the fire ignited near the Long Island Expressway, strong winds spread it nearly a mile north toward Northern Boulevard. It threatened a car dealership, a row of Douglaston homes above the marsh, and the historic windmill belonging to the Alley Pond Environmental Center.
Steve Gold, assistant sales manager at Bay Chevrolet on Northern Boulevard, said nine cars in the back lot of the dealership sustained damage as the flames advanced to a nearby fence.
Gold said he feared the flames would engulf the store, but the winds suddenly changed direction and the fire shifted west toward the Little Neck Bridge and Alley Pond Environmental Center.
