Six people were displaced after a fire tore through their house early Sunday morning in Wyandanch.
Flames engulfed the corner house on Russell Street near New Avenue at around 7 a.m.
Fire officials say the fire started in a garage next to the house and quickly spread as the morning winds fanned the flames.
“The wind came and pushed it right into the house. Flames started going through the house, smoke going through the house,” says Wyandanch Fire Chief Jarvis Brown.
Brown says six people inside the house made it out before the flames ripped through the building. Once they were out, the residents then called 911 and took refuge at a neighbor’s house.
Heat from the intense flames also melted the siding of two nearby houses, according to authorities.
Brown says the group are lucky to be alive.
“They're fortunate because they were...able to call us to get here. So, thank God they weren't sleeping. Thank God we didn't have to make a push to save anybody,” Brown says.
Three neighboring fire departments helped put out the fire. Fire officials say no one was injured.
Neighbor John Field is hoping the fire victims will be able to pick up the pieces soon.
“I'm glad nobody got hurt. Material things were lost, but I'm glad no lives were lost,” he said.
An investigation is underway to determine what caused the fire.