Firefighters battle blaze in boarded-up house in New Cassel, fire in Bellerose home, officials say

Two house fires — at a boarded-up house in New Cassel and a home in Bellerose Village — drew firefighters from a dozen Nassau County departments early Wednesday, officials said.

Westbury firefighters responding to a 4:21 a.m. alarm in New Cassel encountered heavy fire throughout the structure at Sheridan Avenue near Railroad Avenue. The heavy volume of fire combined with fortified window boards and the house's instability made for difficult firefighting conditions, said Capt. Nicholas E. Corrado, deputy fire coordinator at the Nassau County Fire Marshal's office.

Fire marshal investigators and Nassau police arson/bomb detectives were working to find the cause of the fire at the house, which officials said had been uninhabitable and boarded up since a 2022 fire. 

"Neighbors reported squatters frequently stayed at the house," Assistant Chief Fire Marshal James Hickman said in a phone interview. "It wouldn't surprise us at all if people had been in there trying to cook or keep warm." 

Firefighters from Bethpage, Roslyn, Hicksville, Mineola, Carle Place and Jericho assisted Westbury at the scene. 

Firefighters used master streams to apply high volumes of water to put down the blaze. a technique typically used when dealing with an unsafe structure that endangers nearby buildings, he said.

Sixty firefighters brought the fire under control in about 90 minutes; no one was hurt, Corrado said.

The Town of North Hempstead Building Department was called to assess the damage and restrict access to the structure, which partially collapsed.

A North Hempstead town spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

At 8:19 a.m., Bellerose Village firefighters responded to a burning home on Huron Road near Pennsylvania Boulevard. Working with firefighters from Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Elmont and Garden City — 20 firefighters in total — they brought the fire under control in 35 minutes, also without injuries, the fire marshal's office said in a news release. 

Bellerose Village Building Department officials were assessing the damage. 

The two Wednesday fires are the 10th and 11th significant fires to erupt in Nassau since Saturday morning, a rash of blazes that injured one person, displaced 20 and required the volunteer services of almost 650 firefighters from across Nassau, officials said.

Last week, Nassau firefighters fought 17 fires. In roughly the same time frame, Suffolk volunteers battled eight significant fires, authorities said.

Nassau Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said last week the volume was unusual but there were no obvious patterns, with cooking fires and faulty space heaters or extension cords sometimes to blame.