Crime & Safety

Fire Destroys Lakeview Avenue Home

Fire officials suspect it may have been electrical in nature.

A fire inside a Lakeview Avenue home on Friday afternoon destroyed its interior, and preliminary investigations suggest a short circuit in a television may have started the blaze, officials said.

According to John Thorp, Rockville Centre Fire Department second assistant chief, firefighters responded to a working fire at 82 Lakeview Ave. around 2 p.m. Thick, black smoke billowed out of the windows, he said, and they determined that a "flashover" had occurred inside the home. 

A flashover happens when a fire — that's confined by walls — burns for so long that it starts to heat the combustible surfaces around it. When those surfaces heat up, they give off flammable gases and when the temperature is high enough, they ignite simultaneously.

Find out what's happening in Rockville Centrewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The fire marshall determined that the fire had burned for a couple of hours before fire units even arrived, Thorp said. He added that the fire had burned for so long, it used all of the oxygen in the house and because of that, extinguished a large portion of itself.

"A large body of the fire had been knocked down considerably," he said. "It put a lot of the fire out."

Find out what's happening in Rockville Centrewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

No one was injured in the blaze, and firefighters had it under control within 20 minutes, Thorp said. 

A neighbor tried to shove a garden hose in the front door before fire units had arrived, Thorp added, which is extremely dangerous and something he does not recommend. "We're very fortunate that no one got hurt," he said. "...unless you have prior firefighting experience, don't try to do it with a garden hose. It will only give you trouble."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.