Hempstead apartment fire displaces a dozen residents in three units

 An early morning fire seriously damaged at least three units in a residential apartment complex on Jerusalem Avenue in Hempstead on Monday, displacing at least dozen residents, the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office said.

Nassau Chief Fire Marshal Michael F. Uttaro said no one was injured in the blaze, which went to three alarms before being extinguished.

The fire at the three-story, 96-unit H-shaped complex at 100 Jerusalem Ave. was reported at about 6:30 a.m., fire officials said.

About 100 firefighters from a dozen Nassau departments led by the Hempstead Fire Department, under the command of 2nd Asst. Chief Patrick Carney, battled the blaze, bringing the fire under control in about 90 minutes, Uttaro said in an e-mailed account.

Fire officials said all residents were able to safely evacuate the building and were led to nearby Kennedy Park for assessment by medics. The Red Cross was working to find temporary shelter and housing for those displaced.

Uttaro said an occupant in that first-floor unit awoke to a fire "in his room" and was able to get out. The fire then reached the second- and third-floor units above his apartment before advancing into the cockloft. Uttaro said it was still unclear how many units beyond the three initial units suffered damaged in the blaze.

"Some of the units in the building were converted into illegal SRO [subdivided units]," Uttaro said, "and the problem is the apartment is designed for one living space and then responding firefighters find a maze that includes multiple tenants who shouldn't have been in there, not to mention doors and temporary walls."

"It makes it very difficult to assess what's going on," Uttaro said. "And, you want to make sure everyone is out safe, but it makes it hard to know."

A person listed as the building manager said he was waiting for an owner to arrive at the scene and hung up the phone when asked for contact information for that owner.

The village building department will investigate the illegal subdivisions, according to Joseph Simone, the superintendent of the department. Building department officials cannot enter the building to conduct their investigation into code violations until the fire marshals "complete their full investigation," Simone said in a telephone interview Monday afternoon. He added that a building department investigation could begin "hopefully tomorrow, if not today."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by both the fire marshal's office and detectives from the Nassau County Police Department arson bomb squad. 

Newsday's Nicholas Grasso contributed to this story.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”