It was a night of chaos on Aug. 5, with more onlookers than firemen and police turning out.
That was the scene as Port Washington had one of the biggest blazes in recent history, with a garage on Prospect Avenue exploding and destroying the house behind it, killing one man and sending flames over 100 feet into the air.
“There was a big crowd of people as far away as Town Dock (which is about two blocks away) and I was concerned because I thought a gas main may have blown,” said Steve Kaplan, Office of Emergency Manager for Port North.
More Pictures From The Scene Of The Port Washington Explosion
Kaplan spent about three hours at the scene, mostly engaged in crowd control, as virtually all of Port’s safety personnel turned out. On top of Port police and firemen, Nassau County police responded, as did between 150 and 200 firefighters from 23 area departments.
While firemen were fighting the blaze, police and safety officers had to keep the massive crowd at bay, especially after Prospect Avenue, and Second Avenue, which is behind Prospect, were blocked off. One person was arrested for crossing the police line.
Kaplan said he received all sorts of reasons for entry, ranging from, “I have to go this way to get to a friend,” to people pretending not to speak English, “and acting like they didn’t know why they couldn’t get in.”
Small wonder the incident drew such a crowd. The explosion was heard as far as a mile away, causing a five alarm fire, one of the most severe that fireman fight.
Video: Port House Fire Explosion
“It appears the fire started in the garage and spread to the house behind it,” Port Washington Fire Department First Assistant Chief Brian Waterson told The Port News.
The garage, at 10 Prospect Ave., was set back from the property’s house, where neighbors say Michael MacNeill and his wife Angela Nisi-MacNeill, 39, had argued before MacNeill stormed out and went into the garage and used some kind of accelerant to ignite it. A body was found in the destroyed garage. Police officially confirmed the identity of the body this week as belonging to MacNeill, who was 48.
When MacNeill left the house, Nisi-MacNeill is believed to have called the police. Police immediately detected the strong odor of gasoline and evacuated Nisi-MacNeill and the couple’s two-year-old daughter, police said.
As the occupants of 10 Prospect Ave. were brought to safety, the detached garage exploded into flames, said Nassau County Police Lieutenant Gary Shapiro.
The two-story garage was virtually flattened and the house behind it, at 11 Second Ave., gutted. Neighbors also said a barn at an adjoining house was destroyed. Windows broke at nearby homes and flames damaged several cars, neighbors said.
In an ominous foretelling of the night’s events, MacNeill, on Dec. 14, wrote on his Facebook page: “If you’re going to go out with a bang, might as well do it right with 25 gallons of gas and 40 lbs of propane.” The posting was accompanied by a shot of two propane tanks and two gas cans. The entry has since been taken down from Facebook.
As firemen fought the fire, “Our main goal was to prevent it from spreading to other structures,” Waterson said.
Several residents on Prospect Avenue and Second Avenue said their houses were singed, but spoke highly of the job done by firemen. “I wouldn’t have a house if it wasn’t for them,” said Prospect Avenue resident John Ball. “At times the flames were well over the treetops.”
The Port Washington Fire Department and other responders began fighting the fire 8:30 p.m. It was contained around midnight and firemen stayed around until roughly 3 a.m. to take care of “hot spots,” or areas that can flare up. By then, the crowd had gone home.
