Jericho fire: 7 people displaced, 3 townhomes to be demolished after Christmas Day blaze

Seven people were displaced and three townhomes were deemed uninhabitable after a fire broke out in a gated community in Jericho on Christmas, fire officials said.

Jericho firefighters responded to the blaze at The Hamlet condominiums on Vista Drive at 10:22 p.m. Wednesday. They encountered heavy fire in one townhome, which spread to two other attached units, police and fire officials said.

The fire appeared to start near the fireplace and then moved through the rest of the home, causing the first floor to cave in and the building to collapse, Jericho Fire Chief Christopher Foresto said.

A family had been celebrating with relatives and were able to escape, Foresto said. Had they been asleep, he said, "It could have taken a very different turn."

As the building was about to collapse, firefighters evacuated from the home and used ladder trucks and hose lines to attack the fire from the outside, bringing it under control by 3 a.m. Thursday, fire officials said.

"There's never a good time for a fire, but people were congregating with families ... For something like this to happen, it is obviously devastating," Foresto said.

Fire 'not suspicious'

More than 100 firefighters from two dozen companies helped battle the blaze, and three were injured. Two were transported to hospitals for treatment — one for a fractured ankle, the other suffering from smoke inhalation, Nassau Assistant Chief Fire Marshal James Hickman said. The third firefighter refused medical attention, he said.

Nassau County, Jericho and Mineola firefighters used drones to monitor the blaze Wednesday night and Thursday morning, checking for hot spots to keep the fire mostly contained to where it started, county Chief Fire Marshal Mike Uttaro said. Drones have recently been used by Long Island firefighters to get a "a bird's-eye view" of a fire, so as to monitor developments that would otherwise go undetected.

Uttaro said that fire in attached condominium units can be extremely difficult to attack because flames can spread through the walls and neighboring buildings.

The cause of the fire had not yet been determined, but Uttaro said it was "not suspicious." Fire marshals and Nassau police Arson/Bomb Squad detectives are investigating.

Inspectors from the Town of Oyster Bay Building Department assessed the structural integrity of the three most heavily damaged units Thursday and determined that they would have to be demolished.

In addition to the seven people displaced, Uttaro said another couple was on vacation and the third unit was vacant because the recent buyers had not moved in yet.

The fire also spread to a separate, neighboring townhome duplex, where residents complained of smoke and soot damage.

'They did the right thing'

Residents in the gated community were surveying the aftermath of the fire Thursday morning, while fire officials and building department workers worked in the ruins.

Some residents carried presents out of a home and loaded them into their cars. They embraced in the street in front of the burned building, but declined to comment to news media. One couple said their house had burned down.

Construction workers used a front loader to knock down part of one of the collapsed buildings and charred wreckage.

Fire officials credited the residents with escaping from their home and calling 911.

"They were at the house celebrating Christmas. They got everyone out and that's one less thing the fire department has to worry about," Uttaro said. "Lives can’t be replaced. They did the right thing."

With Andrew Ehinger