Although there did not appear to be an immediate danger when a smoke alarm at Wainscott’s LTV building alerted the East Hampton Fire Department at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, “We didn’t really take any chances,” East Hampton Fire Department Chief Gerard Turza said.
“We received a call regarding a smoke condition inside 75 Industrial Road,” Chief Turza said. He said that at the same time the department received the automatic smoke alarm, building personnel also called to report it. The fire department sent three engines, a hose truck, one tanker, a tower ladder truck, a heavy rescue truck, and two fire police units.
East Hampton ambulances were out on a number of other calls at the time, Chief Turza said, so Amagansett and Bridgehampton Fire Department ambulance were called to provide E.M.S support.
The smoke was more like “a haze in one of the rooms,” Chief Turza said. Michael Clark, executive director of LTV Media Center, said the affected area was “just primarily our main studio where we do our main filming. A lot of people were in there working. They just evacuated and followed the safety plan, so everyone in the building left.”
A hunt for the source of the of the smoke in the large, cavernous building took more than an hour because of its several studios, production rooms, and offices, which made it "a bit of a complicated search,” Chief Turza noted. He said that in the top-to-bottom check of the premises, the building personnel helped tremendously.
Responders could not find the cause of the smoke, which dissipated very quickly and had no odor. “It wasn’t electrical, wasn’t wood. It was almost like a fog,” Chief Turza said.
Mr. Clark said he was at the bank when he got the call and returned to wait outside until the fire department left at 5:40 p.m. and everyone returned to work. “They were in the middle of some production work and they were actually doing some live stuff as we left,” Chief Turza said.
“Chief Turza and his crew really did an exceptional job and were really thorough,” Mr. Clark said.