Just after 5 a.m. on Nov. 9 as Chase, the Mini Goldendoodle, alerted both occupants and neighbors with his barking — an action which saved a half-dozen people — as fire attacked a stairwell of a two-family house on East Hudson Street and engulfed the Long Beach home.
Salvatore Brecciano, the upstairs tenant of the house where the fire began, was not home at the time, but his son, Sam was. Brecciano said that his son opened the door to the stairwell, only to see immense flames.
Sam then closed the door, and headed for a nearby window, where he was able to escape to safety. The downstairs tenants, who were awakened by Chase’s barks, were also able to get out on their own.
While there were no life-threatening injuries, Long Bach Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Rick DiGiacomo said that the situation could have been “a lot worse,” and praised Sam for closing the door.
Fuel, heat, oxygen and a chemical chain reaction are the elements that keep a fire going. By closing the door to the stairwell, Sam helped to contain the fire by closing a path of transmission.
“For the fire to start and spread the way it did, it’s a big deal,” DiGiacomo said.
Long Beach police and firefighters also evacuated other households surrounding the house, including an elderly couple in their 80s that needed assistance walking.
Assistant Chief Hadrick Ray, who was first to the scene, ran into the house on the immediate left, along with police officers Dominic Squiciarino and Gerard McNally.
The fire was contained within 45 minutes with hoses stretched across the first and second floors, as well as the basement. Once it was safe to enter firefighters entered the home, searching for potential individuals in distress and to extinguish any potential hot spots.
According to the Red Cross, home fires claim seven lives every day, but having working smoke alarms can cut the risk of death by half. DiGiacomo urged residents to ensure their houses are armed with smoke detectors, and if they are, to change the batteries two to three times annually.
Nine different fire departments across Nassau County assisted, both at-the-scene, as well as on standby for other potential fire calls: Atlantic Beach Rescue, Baldwin, East Rockaway, Inwood, Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Oceanside, Point Lookout, and Valley Stream.
Police Commissioner Richard DePalma praised the over 75 first responders who responded and spoke of the camaraderie between the two city departments.
“We are proud of officers Squiciarino and McNally, along with the Long Beach Fire Department, whose heroic actions ensured residents and neighbors made it out safely,” he said. “That kind of teamwork, working together, by the [police department] and [fire department] saves lives and is something we are all very proud of here in Long Beach.”