On Wednesday, December 28, 2004 about 4:30 PM the Mastic Beach Fire Department received a signal 13, the location was Locust Drive and Elm Road.

The first on scene was Chief Fuzie (5-13-32.)   He was told by police that entry can not be made until the resident removes about 4 rottweiler dogs from the house.

Unit 2 arrived on scene just as the last dog was removed from the house.  The chief and police were able to get inside to assess the fire.  Firemen Tom M. and Ray B. pulled 2 1/2 " hose off and proceeded into the yard.   This was not an easy task for them because they had to climb over all kinds of junk, garbage and large amounts of dog waste throughout the entire exterior of the property.

At one point, a firefighter had to actually climb on top of debris to reach the fire, Firefighter Tom M. slipped and almost fell due to the hazards on this property.

Due to the hazardous conditions throughout the interior of the house, it was nearly impossible to move around inside.  There were only aisles between the litter and debris inside of the house that were no more than 12" wide in some places.  Chief Biondi called county control for a fire Marshall and  LIPA to disconnect the power to the house since there were electric wires run from an open electric panel making a dangerous and unsafe condition.

While trying to check the inside wall where the fire was, Chief Fuzie went to the front door.  In the front room there were cigarette butts on the floor and in front of an arm chair.  It appeared that the cigarette butts had been on the floor for quite a while.  This did not appear to be the cause of the fire.

At this fire, the firefighters had their work cut out for them with the challenge of putting out a fire and trying to avoid getting hurt with all the obstacles that they had to endure to complete their volunteer work.  As always, our firefighters responded to this alarm, as they do with all alarms, in a professional manner regardless of what conditions they find when they arrive at a fire scene.

Fortunately with all that they had to over come at this call, they did an excellent job with no known injuries.  The firefighters did have a nauseating task after this fire was out.  They had dog waste all over the hose lines from being in this disheveled yard.  The hoses had to be washed off in the street before they could be packed away for the next call.