A house fire broke out on the west side of Saltaire last Wednesday, June 8, damaging most of the building’s interior. No one was hurt.
The blaze, at 108 Surf Walk, started some time between 3 and 4, according to next door neighbor Bill McKibbin. He said he “heard a snap, crackle, pop,” saw the fire and called the Suffolk County Fire Department, which then dispatched local authorities.
Just after 4 p.m. Saltaire’s firefighters arrived to find the house’s entire back deck and interior engulfed in flames, according to Jim Wikso, a contractor whose employees were working nearby. Wikso, McKibbin and two others ripped off the back railing and dragged a grill and two twenty-pound propane tanks into the marsh behind the house.
Kismet, Fair Harbor and Ocean Beach fire trucks arrived to assist Saltaire’s midweek, skeleton crew, and the fire was out within 15 minutes.
“We had to knock down the back [wall] first to prevent the fire from spreading, and the inside had a lot of fire,” said Deputy Suffolk County Fire Coordinator Vernon Henriksen.
Authorities had not determined a cause as of Monday, June 20, but did not suspect foul play, said a Suffolk County Police Arson Unit spokesman.
Despite it being “one of the most dangerous house fires” Henriksen said he has been in charge of in the area, rebuilding the house should be possible, since firemen entered through the front. “Brandon Reynolds and Jeff Whitney [from Fair Harbor] did a great job,” he said.
The two-story ranch house was empty at the time of the fire, said Henriksen, although two housekeepers were working there at about 10 a.m.
The owner, Anthony Murphy, did not return calls seeking comment.
Two days after the fire, many of the windows were blown out, their frames blackened; broken glass and charred debris cluttered the back deck. A yellow police ribbon, reading “Security Line Do Not Cross,” was stretched across three trees out front.
This was the third Saltaire house fire since Columbus Day, prompting some residents to wonder whether the area is facing an unfortunate coincidence—or an epidemic. There has been no common link, but at this month’s village board meeting the hot topic during the public discussion phase was fire safety and whether enough was being done to see if one exists. And with grilling now legal in town, propane tanks, some as large as 80 pounds, will continue to be a common sight on back decks everywhere.
Said Mayor Scott Rosenblum, in a statement echoed by all present: “This just brings to the fore how careful we need to be.”