A fire erupted last week at an apartment complex on Birchwood Court, causing residents of the entire complex to evacuate the building. The fire was contained to four apartments, one of which suffered extensive damage.

While Long Islanders were preparing for possibly one of the worst winter storms in years, occupants of the 5 Birchwood Court apartment complex were put out of their homes and into the cold during the early evening hours of March 5.

The fire started on the first floor, but smoke was detected on the fourth floor of the complex. Mineola Fire Department Chief Jack Gayson said when the department responded to the scene at about 5:30 p.m. that Monday, the five-story building was starting to fill with smoke.

The fire affected two apartments on the first floor including the one it started in as well as two on the second floor, Gayson said, adding that those four apartments were not habitable after the fire. "One apartment had the fire, but they all had substantial damage," he added.

The fire started in Apartment 1A, which Gayson said is now is need of a major renovation. "The food inside of the freezer was incinerated so it was hot in that apartment," he said, illustrating the severity of the blaze. "For an apartment that was down there to get smoke all the way up to the fourth floor, the fire was cranking inside that room," the chief said.

One of the more difficult tasks facing the Mineola Fire Department was locating the fire. The call came from the fourth floor so that's where the fire department responded first. There was a smoke condition on the fourth floor, but the department had to locate the flames on the first. "You know you have a fire and you know it got into the wall. You know there's something and you're just trying to find out," said Gayson.

According to Gayson, the fire was working its way up and sideways. However, the Mineola Fire Department, the chief said, "had a good stop on it." Even still, the entire building had to be evacuated. At the time the fire occurred during the start of what was predicted to be a major snowstorm a lot of residents were home.

"There were a good number of people to get out of that building," Gayson said. "Evacuation was smooth. Everybody was safely evacuated from the building."

The superintendent has a box with the keys to each apartment, which saved the fire department time. "The superintendent was instrumental. He had all of the keys to the apartments right there," Gayson said.

After an investigation, the Nassau County Fire Marshal deemed the fire to be accidental. The fire was said to be electrical, possibly caused by an appliance.

The entire Mineola Fire Department responded to the scene. Mutual aid was provided by the Garden City Fire Department. Gayson said there was an excellent response from the Nassau County Police Department, which assisted with taking care of the residents and getting them to safety after they were evacuated from the building. In addition, the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to the scene with three ambulances.

Also coming to the aid of the victims was the Nassau County American Red Cross, which is located at 195 Willis Avenue in Mineola. The American Red Cross staff and volunteers responded to the scene and provided housing to one family whose apartment suffered the most damage.

According to James Green, spokesman for the Nassau County American Red Cross, the Red Cross put the family whose apartment was ravaged by the fire in a hotel for two nights. "After those two days, they basically established some sort of other means," he said.

The Red Cross also assisted the other three families also affected by the fire, although those families were able to find housing on their own with friends or neighbors. All four families were provided with food and clothing vouchers if needed to use at nearby merchants.

The Williston Park and Garden City Park Fire Departments responded to Mineola's headquarters in case there was another emergency while the Mineola Fire Department was occupied.

"During a storm that we were having, you couldn't have asked for more cooperation from all the different people who were available," Gayson said. Although the chief acknowledged that the situation could have been deadly, the cooperation of all the agencies and organizations involved helped to diffuse the incident so that there were no major injuries.

John DaVanzo, who is on the apartment complex's co-op board and a member of the Mineola Fire Department, said workers did a good job in getting the complex back in order. Although the apartment the fire started in may have suffered extensive damage, the rest of the apartments suffered mostly smoke damage.

Only one person was transported to the hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation. Otherwise, there were no injuries.