A mid-day electrical storm that besieged Long Island on Saturday, June 13, was the cause of a transformer fire that necessitated the evacuation of residents from the 96-unit co-op apartment building at One Kensington Gate (KGO) in the Village of Kensington, and left them without any power until the next morning.

Early in the afternoon on June 13, after a lightning storm brought torrential rains that flooded the sidewalk on Middle Neck Road in front of the building, the building experienced a partial electrical outage or "brownout."

KGO staff and several board directors, inspecting the block-long, four-story cooperative residence for possible flooding, observed a slight rumbling noise emanating from the under-sidewalk transformer. They contacted LIPA (Long Island Power Authority) to report the outage, and called repeatedly for assistance during the afternoon. Each time, the response was an automated answering device confirming the location of the reported outage, with a taped message about outages across the Island.

Shortly after the onset of the brownout, an explosion came from the transformer and all power to the building ceased. The co-op staff immediately contacted Vigilant Fire Company at 2:22 p.m.

According to Bob Lincoln, ex-Vigilant fire chief and designated public information officer, Vigilant responded promptly with about 45 volunteer firematic and ambulance personnel, two engines, a tower ladder, a heavy rescue and two ambulance units. Village of Kensington and Great Neck Estates police blocked traffic on Middle Neck Road to keep cars clear of the emergency area.

A loud bubbling noise and dark smoke began to rise from the transformer grating, followed shortly by flames shooting several feet into the air.

Under the command of Second Assistant Chief Conrad Singer, Vigilant volunteers calmly led a full evacuation of residents, including several ill and disabled who were wheeled out in rolling chairs.

Alert Fire Company, responding to a mutual aid call, sent one engine as well as a mini-bus to provide temporary on-site shelter for evacuees. Despite the damp weather and impending return of the rain, many residents remained outdoors, across the street, to observe the scene, behind stretches of yellow police tape. The Alert bus later transported about 40 residents to the Vigilant firehouse for additional shelter and services.

Mr. Lincoln explained, "Power comes to the building from the transformer under the sidewalk. It was probably flooded and shorted out. It takes 17,000 volts of power from the electrical poles and drops it down to have voltage for the building. Now, the transformer and the oil that cools it are on fire. But we do not have confirmation that the power is off. Once LIPA gets here, they will turn the power off and confirm it is off...Then, the fire will go out relatively easily."

With no response by LIPA, the fire was allowed to burn itself out.

Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky, president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association, Nassau County commissioner of accounts, and son-in-law of a KGO resident, arrived to provide support. He commented, "At the moment, I am not interested in assigning fault. I am trying to get help. I have reached out to Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta, who has reached out to Richard Kessel, the head of the LIPA board. Mr. Kessel has advised Mr. Gulotta this matter will be addressed immediately. The Nassau County executive asked me to keep him advised. Now we have to wait... hopefully, Mr. Kessel will be able to get something done around here. I really appreciate Mr. Gulotta's being available." Mr. Samansky spoke with Mr. Kessel from the scene by cellular phone.

By 4 p.m., the scene was considered "stable," according to Vigilant's Mr. Lincoln.

A LIPA truck arrived at 4:12 p.m., but without a supervisor to authorize LIPA workers to take any action.

At 4:45 p.m., Nassau County Fire Marshal James Martino arrived. "First, we have to do a safety check," he stated. "We have to wait for LIPA to do a sample of the oil that was burning. Most of the time it is mineral oil. Most of the PCB transformers were done away with. But we want to check."

Chief Singer stated, "I need a PCB test. They (LIPA) say they have the wrong kits, so they have to take the sample to the lab in Glenwood. We were waiting over an hour for a LIPA supervisor to arrive. They generally can't do anything until they determine if there is contamination."

A LIPA electric service foreman, Joe Galizio, who had just arrived, stated, "What everybody has to understand is that LIPA is not making any money in an outage. So we are just as anxious to get the power back on as you are. We're going to take a sample (of the oil) to the lab in Glenwood...I'll tell you 99 percent that it is clean."

LIPA personnel later reported that the state-qualified laboratory analysis on the oil had found "nine ppm" or nine parts per million of PCB, considered to be a non-hazardous level. Miller Environmental Group, a LIPA contractee, performed the environmental clean-up late into the night, siphoning oil, water, road dirt and sediment from the transformer sump into a tanker truck.

By midnight, most KGO residents had returned to their still-dark apartments, some walking up three flights of stairs lighted only by flashlights.

By 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 14, LIPA crews were able to restore temporary power to the building, from a diesel-powered generator located atop a flatbed in front of the building. The new transformer had already been lowered into the under-sidewalk hole. Another brief power outage was expected later in the day while the new transformer installation was completed. By early evening, full power was restored to the residence.

Ira Litt, KGO board president and a 30-year Great Neck resident, stated, "I commend the Vigilant Fire Company not only for their quick response, but for the action they took with the tenant-owners of our building. I am critical of LIPA's slow response, knowing it was an emergency situation hours earlier. Perhaps quicker LIPA action could have avoided many of the problems we had. If this is any indication of what the average person can expect in service in emergency situations, it is a sad story for our community. I sincerely hope the new LIPA and our elected officials address this situation promptly and properly."

According to Vigilant Fire Department Chief Andrew DeMartin, "authorities believe the cause of the fire could be attributed to either lightning or flooding."