Neighbor's lifesaving effort a holiday gift to Seaford family

The flickering glow from a neighbor's driveway gave Brendan Mullaney his first hint that the challenge of this workday commute home to Seaford would stand out among the countless others.

After Mullaney, a lieutenant in state criminal court in Manhattan, arrived home about 6 p.m. Wednesday and ran across the street to get a closer look, he learned why. Six-foot flames were rising from between two cars parked in the neighbor's driveway and bearing down on the garage. So he began pounding on the Parkview Avenue home's front door.

Soon, the family of five inside ran out, unharmed, but the fire kept growing. Eventually it engulfed a large portion of the residence, "traumatizing everybody," said Kevin Kalyan, whose young children had been bathing upstairs when Mullaney, 42, began trying to get the family's attention.

The timing of the fire — less than a week before Christmas — couldn't have been worse for his family.

"A few days before Christmas and their presents were up in flames," Kalyan said. "There will be no celebration. Everything is burnt.”

But not all was lost, as both Kalyan and Mullaney noted.

“It’s very scary. You think of the kids during the holidays and everyday life and it’s very frightening,” Mullaney said. “We have a wonderful block with great neighbors. It wasn’t so long after I was banging on the doors that the fire spread up the house. All our neighbors would do the same thing. I just happened to be there to see it and got them out before it could’ve been much worse.”

But without Mullaney's quick reaction, Kalyan said Thursday, "it would have ended in a tragedy.”

As it is, said Kalyan, 35, he and his family will stay with relatives in Queens until he can get a better idea of the level of damage to his home. Contractors Thursday boarded it up. The front of the residence and the garage sustained most of the damage. The family's two cars also sustained significant damage. Now, the family must wait for repairs and insurance adjusters.

Kalyan said before Mullaney started banging on the front door, two of his three children had been bathing upstairs, directly above the garage. Along with his wife, he fled the home with their children wrapped in towels. Mullaney went inside and grabbed clothes for the couple's 1-year-old son.

About 60 firefighters from Massapequa, Seaford and Wantagh responded to the fire. The home, which sits at the end of a cul-de-sac, took about an hour to extinguish, said Nassau County Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro.

The cause of the fire was not considered suspicious, Uttaro said, and may have been sparked by construction materials or sawdust near the driveway.

Another one of Mullaney’s neighbors, Kevin Reardon, put Kalyan's family up Wednesday night. He also notified court administrators in Manhattan of Mullaney's potentially lifesaving efforts.

“Lieutenant Mullaney’s brave actions are a lesson for us all in courage, compassion, and professionalism,” said Chief Administrative Judge Joseph A. Zayas in a statement. “His hard work and selfless sacrifice reflect the dedication of our entire uniformed service of court officers who I am proud to say excel every day in all they do.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.