Arson suspected in Big Lots fire in Copiague

Photo by Joe Turner A fire that broke out at Big Lots in Copiague is under investigation by the Suffolk County Arson Squad. Police and fire officials gave this account:

At approximately 3:30 p.m. Sat., March 7, a call went out to the North Amityville Fire Company about smoke coming from the building at 1255 Sunrise Highway. First arriving units confirmed the fire and Chief Vince McLeod sent out a call for mutual aid from surrounding departments.

"Because of the size of the building, the extent of the smoke and the fact that we were having difficulty finding the source, I immediately called for assistance," said McLeod. "There was a definiteconcern because the fire was coming from the back of the building and there was a lot of flammable materials there including mattresses, boxes and furniture."

Suffolk County Arson detectives said that the fire apparently started in a storeroom area. The cause of the fire is undetermined, but police said that they are looking over some surveillance video taken on the store's security tapes as part of their investigation.

Responding were the North Amityville, Amityville, Lindenhurst, Copiague, East Farmingdale, West Babylon and North Babylon departments.

Amityville Village Chief Russell Sawyer said that his department had approximately 15 people at the scene with another 20 on standby, and that it appeared that the building's sprinkler system kept the fire in check. Most of the damage was confined to a rear.

Copiague firefighters quickly extended a line to begin fighting the fire, said McLeod. "They started a serious attack," said McLeod.

In addition, he said that the occupants of all of the other buildings in the shopping center including a Chinese restaurant, laundry and liquor store had to be evacuated.

In all, McLeod estimates that approximately 50-60 firefighters at the scene and it took approximately two and a half hours to locate, bring the fire under control and check for extensions. There were no injuries reported.

"The response from everyone was great," said McLeod. "Considering that these were all volunteers and it was a Saturday afternoon, we had a great turnout and our mutual aid responded very quickly."

Anyone with information on the fire can call S.C. Arson at 631-852-6150.