Plenty of Flames, But Little Damage

South Fork firefighters were busy last week, with three blazes damaging buildings and two brush fires. No injuries were reported.

In Montauk on April 19, a dilapidated fisherman’s shack on the grounds of 41 East Lake Drive was destroyed. Tom Baker, the East Hampton Town fire marshal who investigated the cause, said an overloaded electrical circuit was to blame.

Montauk Fire Department Chief Vincent Franzone said the small structure was a “total loss.” The owner of the property, which has several outbuildings, had left about an hour before the blaze broke out, the chief said. The owner is Else Bridgeford, according to town tax records.

East Hampton firefighters quickly put out a house fire in Hansom Hills, off Rote 114, last Thursday afternoon, but Chief Ken Wessberg said the department could not take all the credit. Swift thinking by Kim Hren, who co-owns the Groundworks @ Hren’s nursery in East Hampton with the owners of the house, Linda and Andrija Silich, helped firefighters save it, he said.

“It was a great stop, thanks to Kim Hren,” Chief Wessberg said. A woman cleaning the house, at 22 Fetlock Drive, heard smoke detectors sounding at about 2:30 p.m. and called Ms. Hren, who was already on her way over. She found the fire, which had already broken through a window, in a bedroom on the second floor.

“She got the dogs out and shut the door to the room. That was the perfect thing to do. It contained the fire,” said the chief. “If she had not done that, we would probably be having a different conversation.”

Ms. Hren did not stop there, he said. She grabbed a garden hose and pointed the nozzle up at the window from the ground floor.

When firefighters arrived, “We hit it quick,” Chief Wessberg said. “It was over quickly.”

The bedroom’s contents were destroyed. Mr. Baker, who investigated, blamed the blaze on a multi-outlet electrical strip that was tucked in between the wall and a mattress. “It either overheated or short-circuited,” he said. 

“We are so grateful to our business partner and best friend, Kimberly Hren, and the Town of East Hampton for taking such swift actions,” the couple said in a statement. “The volunteer firemen and community of East Hampton validate the spirit of our community that comes together in time of need. We are shaken but grateful nobody was hurt.”

East Hampton firefighters were back out again Tuesday morning when a poolhouse was engulfed in flames. A passer-by on Woods Lane called 911 about “a large working fire in the woods” on Georgica Road, just off Woods Lane in East Hampton Village, shortly before 5:30 a.m. Police found the poolhouse at 5 Georgica Road in flames.

The building, about 12 by 16 feet, had been burning for some time, fire officials said. They doused the flames within about 10 minutes, but the poolhouse was a total loss. “There wasn’t much we could do,” Chief Wessberg said. There was no damage to the main house, about 20 to 25 feet away. The property is owned by Catherine Fedeli and Bruce Crowle.

Ken Collum, the village fire marshal, said the cause of the fire was not clear, but that it did not appear suspicious.

   East Hampton firefighters also got together for a drill Sunday morning, which shut down a portion of Main Street. The department set up in front of the United Artists cinema at about 7:30 a.m. The drill was staged “with an eye on the recent Sag Harbor Cinema fire,” according to a statement, helping to determine water supply and truck placement should a blaze ever occur on that part of Main Street. Southampton firefighters conducted a similar drill on Main Street in Southampton early last week. 

In Amagansett, firefighters responded to two brushfires on April 18. The first was on Hampton Place just before 3 p.m., and the other was on Cross Highway, between Fresh Pond Road and the Devon Yacht Club, at about 5:40 p.m. John Glennon, who recently took office as chief, said the blazes were not suspicious, just coincidental. There were strong winds, he noted, and the ground was dry.

Fire marshals investigated the Hampton Place blaze but could not determine a cause. The fire on Cross Highway “spread pretty good — about 75 yards” into beach grass, Chief Glennon said. Both brushfires were put out quickly. 

With Reporting by T.E. McMorrow