A fire that ripped through a senior housing complex on Long Island is now responsible for two deaths after a second woman succumbed to her injuries hours after the Sunday inferno.
The morning fire at the Harmon Shepard Hill apartments in Plainview prompted a massive response from firefighters around 5 a.m. When crews arrived, they found large flames taking over the second floor of building 107.
The fire, roaring amid freezing condition with several inches of snow still on the ground, forced vulnerable seniors to hop out of bed and rush from their rooms.
“We know each other, we’re all friendly. We all know each other and my heart is broken,” Christine Intindoli said.
Despite firefighters’ best efforts to evacuate roughly 20 seniors, 84-year-old Theresa Casale did not make it out alive. Her 74-year-old neighbor, Lynne Citron, suffered burns across her body was taken to the hospital in critical condition. She later died from her injuries, police said Monday.
Nibia Cipriano knew the two women who died. She says neither walked very well, but as neighbors across the hall, they looked out for one another.
“They were funny, you could hear them,” Cipriano explained.
Two others seniors breathed in too much smoke and had to be treated at the hospital. Neither was seriously hurt.
Some of the displaced seniors moved in with family members in the area – others were offered hotel rooms. An army of volunteers stepped up to help the handful of seniors who lost everything.
“The church was kind enough to bring clothes for them, they fed them in the community room today and they all found places for at least tonight,” Intindoli added.
But right as residents like Intindoli were preparing to go to bed, Plainview firefighters returned to the charred building to put out hotspots.
A spokesperson for the Oyster Bay Housing Authority said about 20 people were displaced. All are now staying with relatives or in a hotel.
“I lost everything. But, I mean, everything’s materialistic, you can replace it. You can’t replace a life,” Cipriano said.
Nassau County officials said the fire appears accidental in nature, but an official cause has not been determined.
