A half-dozen firefighters were injured while battling a multiple-alarm fire in a row of stores on Merrick Rd. in Baldwin, N.Y. on May 3. The blaze left more than 20 residents displaced, and 17 fire departments responded.
The Baldwin Fire Department was initially dispatched for a fire in a two-story building, occupied by a pizzeria on the first floor and apartments on the second floor, just before 11 p.m. Firefighters attacked the fire from the interior, but it spread rapidly to five other buildings.
Crews used four tower ladders and several handlines to knock down the growing fire. Some crews set up portable master streams on the roofs of nearby buildings to help douse the flames.
Crews responded from Bellmore, East Rockaway, Freeport, Hempstead, Island Park, Lakeview, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Merrick, North Bellmore, North Merrick, Oceanside, Point Lookout – Lido, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt and South Hempstead.
The fire was declared under control at about 4 a.m.
