Quogue Woman Stops Kitchen Fire

A Quogue woman was praised this week by the Quogue Village Fire Department for the way she put out a kitchen fire on the morning of Wednesday, January 27.

When Susan Bands pulled into her Deer Path driveway after dropping her kids off at school, she could hear smoke detectors going off inside. She opened the front door, smelled smoke and saw that the inside of her home was charred.

“Everything was just black,” Ms. Bands recalled. “It looked like nighttime, and it was after 7 in the morning.”

There was also an approximately 2-foot-tall flame over the stove.

Grabbing her phone and calling 911, Ms. Bands remembered the fire extinguisher she always keeps in her kitchen closet, but never had to use.

As she waited for firefighters to arrive, she ran outside to figure out how to use it, popped off the inspection tag, and ran back in to put the fire out.

“She did a great job,” said 1st Assistant Chief Chris Osborne, whose volunteers arrived not long after. “We just thought it was important because number one, she had a 2½ -pound traditional fire extinguisher handy, which is what we always tell people to have, and number two, she used it properly.”

It’s unclear how exactly the fire started, and fire marshals are still investigating the incident, according to Chief Osborne. Ms. Bands suspects that it could have been an electrical problem.

She said she will have to stay out of her rental house for several weeks while cleaning crews clear the soot out.

“I do have some advice for the public,” Ms. Bands said as she reflected on the experience. “Always have insurance, don’t leave the house in your pajamas because you never know when you’re going to be stuck in them all day, and always have a fire extinguisher.”