More than 160 firefighters battled an advanced fire this afternoon at Westwood Village townhouse apartments on Brush Hollow Rd. in Westbury.
Assistant Chief of the Westbury Fire Department, Kenneth Gass, says that when firefighters arrived at 4 p.m., all the residents had evacuated and heavy smoke and fire was coming through the roof.
“We attempted to make an interior attack at first, but unfortunately with the wind it wasn’t too conducive,” Gass said. “We had to go to tower and ladder operations and eventually we were able to get the fire under control.”
The high winds, which were about 20 mph, made it difficult for crews to battle the blaze.
“Wind pushes fire down. It pushed the smoke and heat down to lower levels which makes it tough on the men when they’re trying to make an attack,” Gass said.
Almost 160 firefighters from 15 departments responded to the fire, including ones from Hicksville, Syosset, Plainview, Bethpage, Farmingdale, Oyster Bay, Jericho, and East Norwich.
The fire started on the second floor, in the upper left corner of the building. Seventy-five percent of the building was damaged but luckily, no civilians were injured. The cause is still under investigation.
