East Hampton Firefighters Extinguish Wainsott Blaze

The East Hampton Fire Department made quick work of a fire that threatened a house at 6 Liano Drive in Wainscott Sunday night.

According to Chief Gerard Turza Jr., the homeowners had a fire in their fireplace earlier in the day, but it had gone out. He said they noticed a dark spot on the wall that was warm to the touch and immediately called 911 at about 7:15 p.m.

Firefighters discovered a fire had broken out inside the wall and had spread from the first floor to the second floor, the attic, and the roof.

“The construction and layout of the house was a wide open floorplan on the first floor with high ceilings in excess of 20 feet. The fire made its way into a void in the wall all the way up to the roofline,” he said. “The people were extremely lucky they noticed it and called 911 when they did.”

The home was located down a long driveway in a neighborhood without fire hydrants. Firefighters used tanker trucks to shuttle water to the scene.

The chief said it took firefighters about a half-hour to put out the fire, although volunteers remained at the scene for about two hours, finishing their work.

The East Hampton Volunteer Ambulance Association also responded to the scene as did the Sag Harbor Fire Department, which sent a tanker and rapid intervention team, and the Amagansett Fire Department, which also sent a rapid intervention team, the chief said. The Springs Fire Department sent volunteers to stand by at the East Hampton Firehouse on Cedar Street. They responded to an automatic alarm that was set off by people cooking at a home on Blue Jay Way in East Hampton, the chief said.