Thursday January 20, 2005 around 9:00 PM the Mastic Beach Fire Department received a signal 13, the location was 44 Brushwood Drive.

The first to the scene was Chief McGown who immediately radioed to County Control requesting a signal 3 for a 13/35. Chief Biondi arrived next on scene followed by Chief Fuzie.

Unit 2 which is a pumper with 3000 gals of water on board, arrived on scene and the men on this truck started pulling hose off to battle the blaze that appeared to be on the second floor to the rear of the building. As the men were preparing to attack the fire Chief Biondi radioed to County Control for a signal 24 to Mastic Fire Department and to Brookhaven Fire Department for a pumper and a rapid intervention team to the scene.

The next truck to arrive on scene was unit 3, this truck is a pumper with 750 gals of water on board and also will be connected to a hydrant to feed water to the lines that are used off this truck and supply water to unit 2.

Unit 7 a heavy rescue truck was on scene and supplied lighting to the area that the firemen were working.

The first firemen went to the front door got ready to make entry and battle the fire on the second floor. Lead by Chief McGown they forced the door open and proceeded up the stairs that were right inside the door.

While the first crew were upstairs fighting the blaze another crew proceeded to the rear of the building with a 2-1/2 " hose line and yet another crew started to enter the front door and attack a fire in the rear room when all of a sudden there was a large explosion and 3 men were thrown from the front entrance to the front lawn.

There was a firemen on the roof doing ventilation at the time of the explosion who got knocked down but was able to grab onto the skylight to keep from falling off the roof.

On the first floor three firemen were hurt from the explosion and were transported to Brookhaven Hospital with minor injuries.

Immediately after the explosion Chief Biondi ordered all firefighters out and away from the house until it could be determined if the house was safe for firefighters to continue and that there was not any other signs of another explosion.

Chief Biondi ordered unit 2 to use the deck gun to flood the building with water so his men don't get in harms way of a possible building collapse.

The fire was out after about 1 1/2 hours of battle and explosion which caused the entire rear of the house to be separated from the base of the construction.

The said wall of the house was also blown out along with the interior doors, walls, ceilings and sections of the floor.

Some sections of the floors were blown off the beams, plywood and tiles were completely separated from the beams.

Fire departments that helped were, Mastic FD, Brookhaven FD and Center Moriches FD who all working together got this fire out.

Also on scene for medical assistants were Mastic Beach Ambulance, Mastic Ambulance, Shirley Ambulance and Manorville Ambulance.

The Mastic Beach Fire Department would like to thank all that were involved with this call.