Fire tore through a residential parking garage complex at Roslyn Gardens in the early hours of Tuesday, December 16, incinerating nearly two-dozen vehicles and leaving only a charred pile of rubble in its wake.

Firefighters from the Roslyn Fire Companies, arriving at the Edwards Street location, found a 50-foot-by-100-foot multi-vehicle garage building, with flames spewing through the structure's windows. A total of 75 firefighters and 14 trucks from the Roslyn Fire Companies and neighboring departments were needed to bring the fire under control.

According to Roslyn Highlands Chief Robert Duchnowski, the incident commander, the gasoline from the vehicles was helping to feed the fire, creating an unusually intense fire load.

"The initial interior attack on the fire was quickly changed to an exterior attack due to the threat of a structural collapse," reported Chief Duchnowski. "The presence of an estimated 200 gallons of gasoline in the vehicles within that garage was a major player in our safety assessment," he added.

According to Chief Duchnowski, a specialized foam unit was dispatched from neighboring Glenwood Fire Company and arrived at the scene to help mitigate the risk of explosion from the fuel tanks that were now under intense heat from the large fire. The application of foam in these cases creates a blanket that robs the fire of oxygen and essentially smothers it, fire officials explained.

Roslyn Rescue Chief Michael Conklin added that leaking gasoline also posed an environmental threat, prompting firefighters to check repeatedly the run-off from the scene for traces of gasoline.

"No traces of gasoline were found in the run-off from the fire building, which indicates to us that the gasoline was burning off in the fire, and not escaping in liquid form as run-off," Chief Conklin reported.

Severe icing conditions at the scene further hampered operations for firefighters, who worked throughout the pre-dawn hours to bring the fire under control. No injuries to civilians were reported, and one firefighter suffered minor injuries and was treated and released by fire department paramedics at scene.

Chief Duchnowski praised the scores of volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel who responded to the 3:30 a.m. blaze and endured the frigid conditions for more than four hours to control the spread of the fire and eventually extinguish it.

"The strong response to this long, protracted operation in the middle of a cold December night speaks real loudly about the spirit of our volunteer firefighters," he said.

The fire has been referred to the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office and the cause is still under investigation.