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Thanks Twingles for correcting the misinformation about this tragedy. For those who are questioning the reason for not identifying the man, in all likelihood he was burned beyond recognition and therefore dental records had to be obtained to make a positive ID. Perhaps I missed it, but I don't believe that any official source stated that the man was 62 years old. The officials, both police and fire, can only go by what they are told and need to sort the facts from the fiction. They interviewed the neighbors who tell them who live in the house and then they start there.
To answer the questioners, there is a mutual aid agreement that local fire depts. all agree to and generally speaking it works. According to family I have in the local area, the delayed response was due to a confluence of things among them, responding to Westbury, low volunteer retention and members at work or headed to work. The local depts. responding to Westbury were staggered and for some responders they went from fire to work. Daytime fires are difficult enough to respond to due to low membership and this was indeed an anomaly.
For some reason, the NCPD did not initially release the man’s name but must have known his identity. Multiple news sources said the victim was 62. That wasn’t hearsay, it must have been provided by NCPD sources whether they “officially” announced it or not.
The volunteer FF force is doing a tremendous job and in all recent fires they were at the scene in less than 10 minutes. It's unknown and unlikely that a paid FF would have prevented deaths, working smoke detectors would have.
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Agree....those people were gone before anyone even called 911. Hopefully they never knew what hit them. A neighbor getting fire alerts on HER home security system and a passing motorist called 911. For both of those things to be true, the fire was pretty far along at that point.
I heard a rumor about there being oxygen tanks in the GC home (perhaps for a CPAP machine)?
There were 2 dogs present in the GC home, why didn’t the dogs wake anyone up? (Both dogs died in the fire)
Were the people in the house incapacitated somehow before the fire, say by carbon monoxide or foul play? Did they get trapped trying to get someone disabled out of the home?
The fire started early in the morning and it was cool that day, was it linked to something that would be set to come on at 5am like a hot water heater or a furnace?
Also, almost all homes in GC have an alarm system with central station monitoring. Did this house not have that? Did they only have a battery powered smoke detector.
The purple ribbons are because the daughter was planning to attend NYU. The blue for PTA which the mom was very involved with. The pink because it was the daughter’s favorite color.
With regard to professional Fire fighters, even if they had them, they would have driven the trucks to the Westbury Fire. It was a 71 alarm fire. There’s no indication they would have not been present at that fire and stayed behind at one of the fire houses in the village.
Last edited by Parsifal; 05-12-2021 at 12:04 PM..
Reason: Spelling
^ I don't know if they ever determine where the fire started, but it probably developed rapidly. People need to understand that 90% of people don't die from the flames, but from smoke inhalation. It's perfectly possible to not find the bedroom door when the house is filled with smoke. Your eyes might be burning. You can't breathe.
Since this tragedy I purchased N95 masks and eye goggles for my bedroom. And a fire extinguisher for my bedroom, too (I already have plenty downstairs). Finally I've worked on an escape plan with my family.
^ I don't know if they ever determine where the fire started, but it probably developed rapidly. People need to understand that 90% of people don't die from the flames, but from smoke inhalation. It's perfectly possible to not find the bedroom door when the house is filled with smoke. Your eyes might be burning. You can't breathe.
Since this tragedy I purchased N95 masks and eye goggles for my bedroom. And a fire extinguisher for my bedroom, too (I already have plenty downstairs). Finally I've worked on an escape plan with my family.
Ever since that horrific fire in Connecticut about a decade ago that killed the kids and grandparents I have had fire extinguisher in all bedrooms, we have smoke alarms/heat detectors with central monitoring (1 per floor), a battery powered smoke detector in each bedroom, a fire blanket, a kitchen extinguisher, and a fire ladder in the bedroom that has a 2 story drop.
^^^^
Some may laugh, but this is a good idea. I vaguely remember this sort of training in elementary school, some sort of fire prevention and what to do if you wake up and there's a fire. I wonder if they still teach that, could be pretty useful one day.
Hopefully they died in their sleep, not knowing what happend.
Ever since that horrific fire in Connecticut about a decade ago that killed the kids and grandparents I have had fire extinguisher in all bedrooms, we have smoke alarms/heat detectors with central monitoring (1 per floor), a battery powered smoke detector in each bedroom, a fire blanket, a kitchen extinguisher, and a fire ladder in the bedroom that has a 2 story drop.
Will it help? Who knows. I hope so.
That was a horrific story. I grew up in that area. Christmas Eve, I believe her boyfriend, who was also the contractor was initially blamed, then he blamed her, they sued the city. I know he eventually passed away from cancer. Tragic story all around.
The GCFD left Westbury at 2:30 am. The patch continues to publish incorrect info. Go to the GCNews and wade through the comments on the story.
A GCPD officer was on scene first and broke down the door but couldn’t get in due to smoke.
Murder suicide is the craziest thing I’ve heard. FD found ONE smoke detector in the house and no one heard it going off. While they can never definitely say it appears it was not working.
if the patch was posting incorrect info, it would say it needs a correction...
have you seen one? because I havent.
anyways GC news says it took the fire department 20 minutes to get there, and the patch says they were fighting a fire in westbury while the 3 people were burning to death in their own town
the fact that the garden city fire department in westbury, speaks volumes.
now the fire department is in hot water, and are starting rumors of a murder suicide to cover up their incompetence .
oh, the house has no fire detectors offers no relief from the fact the cops were there first, the witness said it took 20 minutes for the garden city fire department to respond, and the fact that the garden city fire department was in another jurisdiction fighting a fire when there were 71 other fire departments in westbury already fighting that same fire.
the garden city fire department needs to stay in garden city, and stop blaming the victims for killing themselves... or claiming the victims died because the batteries were dead on the smoke detectors
The fire broke out at the home on Washington Avenue just after 5:30 a.m. Garden City firefighters were battling a massive fire in Westbury at the time and left to respond to the home, which was engulfed in flames.
Garden City police were first on the scene and couldn't get into the home. A dozen other fire departments responded to the scene.
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