Gosman's Dock and Two Other Buildings Saved This Week
Quick work by firefighters saved three buildings this past week.
On Friday night, painting materials being stored outside sparked a blaze at Gosman’s Dock restaurant in Montauk, which had closed for the season days before. An exterior wall near the entrance was badly damaged, but things could have been much worse, said Montauk Fire Chief Joseph Lenahan.
Firefighters got to the West Lake Drive complex quickly, with the chief arriving within three minutes. He was at the firehouse, along with a group of other volunteers who had just finished fire school, when a 911 call came in, at about 8:40 p.m. from a passerby who had noticed a small fire. It grew quickly, however; dispatchers told the chief that one side of the building was “fully involved.” The Amagansett and East Hampton Fire Departments were called to help. Overall, 100 firefighters responded.
The building’s overhang was ablaze. Chief Lenahan said the fire “did extend into the building a bit, but we were able to contain it.” The windows blew out from the heat, and the whole building filled with smoke. An office above the old dining room was not damaged.
Robert Gosman Jr., the general manager and a former fire chief, had been home at the time and arrived just before the chief to find the outside of the building engulfed in flames. He “tried to keep a calm head,” he said by phone on Tuesday, while wearing two different hats. He updated the chief on the conditions, and then helped coordinate the effort to hook up to the fire-suppression system inside the building. The sprinkler system inside helped to dissipate the heavy smoke and gases and allow firefighters to do their job.
The fire was extinguished within 40 minutes. “The guys did a great job on the exterior,” Mr. Gosman said, as did the sprinklers inside.
“A lot of things worked in our favor,” he said, citing the time of night, when people were still outside to see the flames and firefighters were nearby. Also, there was little wind that night to fuel the fire.
Mr. Gosman returned the next morning to survey the damage by daylight. “I took a big sigh of relief, it could have been a lot worse,” he said. “I’m glad no one got hurt. We can always rebuild.” While the smoke damage was extensive, he was confident that the popular restaurant would reopen next season; the only question is whether it will be ready by the first weekend in May, its usual opening. Gosman’s had closed for the season on Columbus Day.
According to Tom Baker, an East Hampton Town fire marshal, the fire began under the overhang, where contractors who had been stripping and refinishing furniture had left their materials. Mr. Baker has ruled the fire accidental, caused by the spontaneous combustion of furniture-finishing products; he declined to name the brand. “It could have been very catastrophic,” he said.
Combustible materials were also blamed for a fire in a Dumpster at a construction site at 103 Montauk Highway in East Hampton Village, the new home of Landscape Details, on Sunday evening. The flames erupted from at least five cans of adhesive that roofers had disposed of, said Mr. Baker, who investigated the blaze because the village fire marshal was out of town. He said the adhesive was “highly volatile.”
The East Hampton Fire Department quickly extinguished the flames before they could spread to the building, which is across from Winston’s Bar & Grill. It was most recently the Players Club restaurant.
The heat from the flames cracked the glass on a couple of the windows, Mr. Baker said. “I just urge anybody doing any kind of work like that to follow instructions on labels to a tee in terms of disposal and storage,” he said.
East Hampton firefighters also made quick work of a fire at a house in Northwest Woods on Monday afternoon, though the house’s interior suffered extensive damage. A passer-by saw flames coming from 795 Hand’s Creek Road and called 911 at about 12:30 p.m. When Gerry Turza, the second assistant chief, arrived there was “heavy fire” showing from the street. Bushes and a deck were ablaze as well.
It was unclear whether the fire began inside or out, and Chief Turza declined to comment, as the town fire marshal’s office is conducting an investigation. Mr. Baker said Tuesday that he had not yet pinpointed the spot where the fire began.
Firefighters “made a very efficient, very aggressive attack,” first from the outside and then from the interior, Chief Turza said. Flames had just reached to the eaves, and firefighters stopped them just before they got to the roof. The two-story, wood-frame residence was not occupied at the time.
About a quarter of the house sustained heavy damage, Chief Turza said. An outside deck partially collapsed, and there was extensive smoke damage. The house’s owners are Mannik and Garabed Ayvazian of Little Neck.
Because of a shortage of public water in the area, the chief summoned tanker trucks from other departments, from Montauk to Southampton. The nearest hydrant was 1,600 feet away from the house, he said. However, the fire was extinguished so quickly that the tankers were not needed.
Correction: Gerry Turza is the second assistant chief in the East Hampton Fire Department, not the first assistant as a previous version of the story mentioned.