Police

Nearly 80 firefighters respond to early morning fire in Riverhead

Firefighters from multiple departments responded to an early morning fire at a commercial building on County Road 58, according to the Riverhead Fire Department.

The building, a large garage just west of the Tanger entrance and the Speedway gas station for a freight shipping and trucking company, had heavy smoke conditions when firefighters first arrived after the 2:15 a.m. alarm, according to Riverhead Fire Chief Kevin Brooks.

Riverhead Town police closed County Road 58 in both directions as firefighters from the Riverhead, Flanders and Wading River fire departments battled the blaze. Chief Kevin Brooks said no injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Riverhead Town fire marshal.

“It was a difficult fire to advance on because of the debris inside,” Chief Brooks said. “There was some debris that had fallen — some wood, shelves that were burning and there were a couple vehicles, a large truck and then on the other side were two vehicles.”

Firefighters, about 80 total, had the blaze under control by approximately 3:30 a.m., Chief Brooks said.

Ken Heagy, the manager of J&H Transfer Inc., said Wednesday morning he’s not sure how the fire started.

“I’m really at a loss right now to even think about what happened,” he said. “My phone’s nonstop ringing. I’m kind of in a daze. I’ve been up since 2 o’clock.”

PSEG Long Island was on scene to secure the power lines and Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance members were also on scene.

County Road 58 was reopened when the scene was cleared.

Photo caption: Firefighters on scene at the County Road 58 fire early Wednesday morning. (Credit: Stringer News)

WITH KELLY ZEGERS

[email protected]

The inside of the building Monday morning where a truck was completely destroyed by the fire. (Credit: Kelly Zegers)