Officials: Westbury apartment fire leaves 6 hurt, 1 critical

A critically injured man was pulled from his burning bedroom in a Westbury apartment building early Tuesday by police and an off-duty firefighter who were also injured, officials said.

The resident was in critical condition, and four Nassau County police officers and a Westbury firefighter were in stable condition after suffering from smoke inhalation, the officials said.

“They went in before the fire engines arrived, and without the protection of extra gear,” James Hickman, chief of fire investigations for Nassau County, said.

The injured firefighter had gone directly to the apartment building because it was closer to his home than the firehouse, and helped police make the rescue, according to Kenneth Gass, first assistant chief of the Westbury Fire Department.

Hickman said the fire was reported at 12:33 a.m. in the third-floor bedroom of the six-story apartment building, and was extinguished by 1 a.m.

The fire was confined to the bedroom, and its cause is under investigation, Hickman said.

A number of other tenants were displaced by the fire and were being relocated by the Red Cross, Hickman said.

Nassau County police said that the Westbury, East Meadow, Carle Place, Hicksville and Jericho fire departments responded to extinguish the fire.