At 12:20 a.m. on Thursday, July 8, a resident of Rolling Hill Road in North Strathmore called the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department to report a fire in a house across the street from his own. The MLFD responded with seven trucks and 100 firefighters and EMTs and the fire was brought under control in about an hour.

Chief Lou Scida says that there was probably about $500,000 damage to the house. Chief Scida says that the owner of the house, Mrs. Dolly Svobodny, was away from home visiting out west at the time of the fire. Her 39-year-old son, Dane, was at home at the time of the fire. When the Nassau County Police arrived on the scene they observed the house fully engulfed in flames. According to the police report, "officers searched the outside of the premises and discovered Dane Svobodny outside in the backyard in his pajamas in an incoherent state." Mr. Svobodny allegedly told the police that he had set the fire and was taken to the 6th Precinct Station House on Community Drive for investigation. He was subsequently taken to the Nassau County Medical Center in East Meadow. The case is currently being investigated by Detective Dominick Mazza of the Nassau County Police Department's Arson/Bomb Squad.

In a peculiar postscript to the affair, the 6th Squad reports an Assault arrest that occurred the following night. According to detectives, a 19-year-old resident of Munsey Park was arrested after he allegedly went to see the site of the fire and was confronted by a resident of the block. According to police, he struck the resident on the head with a flashlight. The victim was taken to North Shore Hospital where he was treated for a laceration to his right eye.