George Urich, 83, ID'd as resident who died in Island Park home fire

The remains of a resident found in an Island Park house destroyed by fire early Monday have been identified as those of George Urich, 83, authorities said.

On Monday, Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael F. Uttaro said in a statement, "The unaccounted for individual from the fire this morning has been located deceased in the remains of the burned out structure."

Uttaro said the cause of the fire was under investigation but it does not appear suspicious.

Officials initially believed a husband and wife were in the house at the time of the fire, but later learned the wife was living in an assisted living facility.

 A team of fire marshals and members of the Town of Hempstead Buildings Department had worked slowly on Monday, taking the unstable house apart with machinery, including an excavator, Uttaro said.

The second floor of the home collapsed in the fire, which made the search more difficult, he said.

Around 1:49 a.m. Monday, authorities received a call of a "significant fire" at a Sunset Avenue house and a report that people might be inside, police and fire officials said.

Island Park Fire Chief Eric Gorton said firefighters arrived to find the home completely engulfed in flames and "blowing out every window of the house."

The fire became so intense that the siding of a neighbor’s house caught fire, he said.

About 120 firefighters from multiple companies responded to the scene, including Island Park, Point Lookout, Oceanside, Freeport, Baldwin, East Rockaway, Lynbrook, Franklin Square and Rockville Centre, Uttaro said.

Susan Dada, 69, who lives across the street, said she woke up to the sounds of emergency vehicles and saw the fire outside her bedroom window. 

"The house was so engulfed it looked like a raging fire from like a brush fire," she said. "It was horrendous. It's just something you would see in a movie."

She described Uricht as a "sweetheart of a man" who minded his own business, but who would say hello. "He would help people," Dada said. "He was very nice to everybody."

Jeff Speight, 67, who lives one block away from the burned house, said he was unaware of the fire until he walked his dog in the neighborhood on Monday morning.

He usually walks his dog past the burned house, but learned he couldn’t take the usual route as it was blocked off by fire officials.

Speight said his family lived in the area for almost three decades, and had last seen Urich in November.

"I can't imagine," he said. "I feel the worst has happened over there."