West Babylon officials seek cause of apartment blaze that displaced dozens

Babylon Town fire marshals were on scene Tuesday night and again Wednesday at a Fairfield apartment complex in West Babylon trying to determine the cause of a fire that did extensive damage to at least two second-floor units and displaced 50 residents from their homes.

Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Rudy Sunderman said Wednesday the cause remains unclear. One West Babylon firefighter who sustained minor injuries had been released from Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, he said.

Two residents with minor injuries were also taken to Good Samaritan, Sunderman said. Their status was not immediately clear Wednesday.

Officials said firefighters from the West Babylon Fire Department responded to a 7:29 p.m. call of a structure fire at the Fairfield Suburbia Gardens on Great East Neck Road and arrived to find flames in one of the three buildings there, department Chief William Allen told Newsday at the scene on Tuesday.

Two second-story units were ravaged by fire, while water and smoke damaged the two units directly below, Allen said. Another eight units had smoke damage. Power was cut off to the entire building, making it uninhabitable.

Babylon Town spokesman Ryan Bonner told Newsday in an email Wednesday that initial indications from fire marshals were that the fire began in the end unit on the second floor and directly affected four units in that building.

He said the project manager for the site has been asked to supply an engineer's report to the town so inspectors can determine whether or not the exterior wall structure has been compromised.

Bonner said town inspector Kevin Saturno also had requested a fire underwriter's report, so inspectors could make a determination on "electrical issues" related to the four damaged units.

A request by Newsday seeking comment from Fairfield management was not immediately answered Wednesday.

Allen said Tuesday he was not sure when displaced residents would be allowed to return to the building.

On Wednesday, Sunderman told Newsday that decision would be determined by town building inspectors once they'd completed all of their inspections. "They'll determine when residents can reoccupy the building, once it's safe to do so," he said.

Sunderman said some of the displaced residents found shelter Tuesday night with friends and relatives, while others were placed in temporary housing arranged through the Red Cross and through the Suffolk County Department of Social Services.

He said he was thankful that command personnel at the scene were able to use nearby Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church as a staging area. "We were able to use the church to stage residents and get them out of the cold and elements," he said. "That was important."

Residents whose apartments were not heavily damaged, like Christine Driscoll, hoped to come back  sometime Wednesday to grab essentials.

"All I know is that we’re not allowed to go back in because it’s not safe, they said," Driscoll, 54, told Newsday on Tuesday.

Buses from a mutual aid fire department carried residents to nearby Our Lady of Grace — and Driscoll told Newsday her family planned to head to the church before driving to a friend’s home in Bayport.

Driscoll said she and her husband, Brian, were able to grab coats before being forced to flee their apartment into subfreezing temperatures, ending up on the slushy sidewalk outside their apartment building.

But the couple, along with their son, Sean, 25, were not able to grab wallets, prescriptions  and other essentials as they evacuated. They endured a similar situation in October 2024, when a fire tore through their prior house in Farmingdale.

They ultimately sold the home as they could not afford to make repairs, Christine Driscoll said.

More than 100 firefighters from 13 departments responded to the fire, Allen said. They extinguished the blaze after an hour. The first firefighters on scene initially struggled to access the building because of snow, ice and vehicles in the parking lot.

"We were trenching through snow with hose lines to try to get in place," the chief added. "It was pretty difficult just to get established."

The first fire hydrant responders hoped to use was covered in snow, so they used an alternative, which "did delay water supply," Allen said.

On Wednesday, Sunderman reminded homeowners, property managers and maintenance staff at residential properties and businesses throughout Suffolk to clear snow and ice from around hydrants — often an oversight and a task forgotten or overlooked in the wake of winter storms.

"I think the biggest thing is that residents should clear hydrants," Sunderman said. "That's important. Clear your home, clear your neighbor's home, Clear hydrants on your block. When you do that you're protecting your own house, you're protecting your neighbor's house, you're protecting your neighborhood. It's just a simple thing. But be a good neighbor."

As he said: "It's easy — and, it can help save lives."