Bayside Blaze Guts Home

Bayside Blaze Guts Home
A fire ripped through a Bayside row house late last Wednesday morning, gutting a familys home and filling the quiet cul-de-sac with acrid smoke.
"My husband first smelled smoke at 9:45 or so," said Miriam Fishman, who lives in one of the two-story red brick row houses that adjoin the devastated home at 18-66 Corporal Kennedy Blvd. "He called me [at work] hysterical."
Luckily for the Fishmans and others in the housing complex, the Fire Dept. responded rapidly, sending eight engines and several rescue units to extinguish the blaze. The row houses on either side were undamaged by the flames, though firemen had to rip gaping holes in the Fishmans roof and smashed many of their windows to ensure that their house was safe. "[Fire] was starting to come into the attic, they said," Fishman explained. "He said if it wasnt for the brick wall [between the units]"
Firefighters on the scene said that the fire started in the kitchen, but that the exact cause had not been determined. "Theres so much damage in there, sometimes its hard to find the cause," said Chief Eddie Huberts of Battalion 52. "It was a lot of fire, but a routine fire."
Small groups of neighbors stood together in the heat of the sun thanking their lucky stars their homes had been spared. In front of them, the detritus of the homeowners lives spilled out a broken first floor window. A lamp, some pillows and soaking wet hunks of salmon pink insulation hung across some bushes. Inside, the blackened home, soot-covered knick-knacks were still in place on a table.
"I came home early for lunch and saw the fire trucks and I was terrified," said Debbie Phillips, who lives a few doors down from the home. "I have three little kittens, so until I got home I was dying inside."
"This has never happened here," said Renee Weinhaus, another close neighbor, adding that she had not yet gone into her home and did not yet know if she had any damage.
According to neighbors, the mother and daughter were home when the fire started, but escaped safely. The homeowner, who declined to give her name, did not speak with reporters. One neighbor said, "Theyre really traumatized."