{"id":87584,"date":"2026-01-02T19:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87584\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T19:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:54:11","slug":"staten-island-man-93-gives-harrowing-account-of-massive-fire-that-gutted-neighbors-home-injured-3-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87584\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island man, 93, gives harrowing account of massive fire that gutted neighbor\u2019s home, injured 3 firefighters"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A massive fire tore through a Castleton Corners home early Friday morning, damaging surrounding houses, sending three firefighters to the hospital<\/a>, and leaving a 93-year-old retired police officer scrambling to protect the property he\u2019s called home for more than six decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up around 5:30 a.m., and saw red (in the) window. That\u2019s when I started grabbing everything I could get and throwing on the front (porch) in case I had to take it out,\u201d said James O\u2019Leary, who spoke to the Advance\/SILive.com from his home on Franklin Place hours after a blaze gutted his neighbor\u2019s home at 59 Norwalk Ave.<\/p>\n

The fire quickly spread through the structure, according to O\u2019Leary. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Leary, who witnessed numerous emergencies during his career, noted the intense heat of the fire caused damage to nearby properties as well. His own home suffered exterior damage, but he noted the flames didn\u2019t penetrate his house.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just melted the outside plastic siding,\u201d he explained. \u201cBehind the siding was the solid foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fire141 firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to contain the “fully involved” blaze that left three first responders injured and a home in ruins.Advance\/SILive.com | Shaina McLawrence<\/p>\n

\u201cFlames melted the rear siding on the house next door from me as well,\u201d O\u2019Leary pointed out, adding, \u201cOn the right hand corner up, it sort of wrinkled a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emergency responders faced significant challenges upon arrival, according to O\u2019Leary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a while to get here, but then they had the whole street filled with division trucks,\u201d he said. \u201cThey activated fire hydrants and had many hoses stretching all the way up the street, in all different directions to try to put the fire out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fire141 firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to contain the “fully involved” blaze that left three first responders injured and a home in ruins.Advance\/SILive.com | Shaina McLawrence<\/p>\n

O\u2019Leary estimated it took about 10 minutes for firefighters to arrive. The FDNY previously told the Advance\/SILive.com that 46 units comprising of 141 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Fire141 firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to contain the “fully involved” blaze that left three first responders injured and a home in ruins.Advance\/SILive.com | Shaina McLawrence<\/p>\n

\u201cThe home was burning while we were waiting for the fire to come,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then so many of them came, they couldn\u2019t get up the street. It was jam-packed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three firefighters sustained minor injuries while battling the blaze. <\/p>\n

\"Fire141 firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to contain the “fully involved” blaze that left three first responders injured and a home in ruins.Advance\/SILive.com | Shaina McLawrence<\/p>\n

\u201cThey must have went inside looking for people. Every window was pouring (smoke),\u201d O\u2019Leary recounted.<\/p>\n

In a heartening display of community, neighbors quickly mobilized to help each other during the emergency. O\u2019Leary, who might have struggled to move his vehicle to safety, received immediate assistance from his neighbor.<\/p>\n

\u201c(They) banged on my window, said, \u2018give me the keys, I\u2019ll take the car up,\u2019\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Local contractors have already filed insurance claims for affected homeowners, according to O\u2019Leary, who said he had contacted his insurance provider, Allstate, and was informed that claims were being processed<\/p>\n

According to the FDNY, there are no updates to the condition of the firefighters at this time.<\/p>\n

\"nwsFDNY and EMS responded to a fire at 59 Norwalk Avenue on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A massive fire tore through a Castleton Corners home early Friday morning, damaging surrounding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-87584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}