Fire destroys Mastic Beach house days after man kills wife in murder-suicide, officials say

A fire Wednesday at the Mastic Beach house where a man killed his wife and then himself last week "appears to be noncriminal in nature," Suffolk County police said.

The blaze destroyed the home on Woodside Drive where a murder-suicide took place on April 30.

That day, police found the bodies of Jenni Lee Street, 28, and her husband, Wayne Street, 29, who police believe shot his wife to death before shooting himself in the home they shared with their six children.

Two of the couple's children, both under the age of 2, were inside the home but were unharmed, police said at the time.

The cause of Wednesday's fire, which was reported to police at 3:42 a.m., has not yet been determined. But it appears the blaze was not intentionally set, police said.

Tom Montreuil, an assistant chief with the Mastic Beach Fire Department, and police said the house was vacant and fully engulfed when they arrived, along with the Mastic and Center Moriches fire departments.

Montreuil said that when he arrived it was obvious the house could not be saved.

"At that point, the fire was completely into the structure and there was partial collapse also," he said.

The major concern then was to keep neighboring houses from catching fire.

"Radiant heat from the fire was melting siding on a house next door," he said, "and we didn't want other homes being damaged."

Montreuil said the fire did not spread, and firefighters needed about 40 minutes to fully extinguish the blaze.

Firefighters were able to disconnect and remove a 100-pound propane tank, preventing its explosion, Montreuil said.

The Village of Mastic Beach Fire Marshal's Office also is investigating, he said.

The murder-suicide was discovered last week after four of the couple's children arrived home from school and found themselves locked out before walking to a nearby ice cream shop seeking help, police said.

A store customer accompanied them back to the house, and after peering through a window, saw the bodies of the couple, police said.

With Ellen Yan