Firefighters Respond to Lawrence Apartment Blaze

A Central Avenue apartment building was evacuated Thursday night after a fire broke out in one of the unit’s kitchens, according to the chief of the .

A call for the fire at 240 Central Ave. came in around 9:08 p.m., Chief Joseph Sperber said. When firefighters arrived, they found a blaze that was extending out of the kitchen into the living room and slightly to the floor above.

“The occupant was home and was uninjured,” Sperber said. “We were able to get into the apartment and extinguish the fire.”

The fire was under control in five minutes, he said. Firefighters were on the scene for another hour to ventilate the apartment and do overhaul work. Smoke had spread to the nearby area.

The sole occupant of the apartment was apparently cooking “and it got a little out of hand,” Sperber said. The gas was also turned off after a leak was found from the stove.

About 20 residents of the building were evacuated. No injuries were reported.

Some 50 firefighters from the Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Inwood and Hewlett fire departments were at the scene with 10 pieces of equipment. The Valley Stream Fire Department stood by for additional calls.

As LCFD was wrapping up the fire, another call came in for an apparent gas leak at the apartments at Central Avenue and Cedarhurst Avenue.

As it turned out, according to Sperber, the resident that made the call had smelled a pungent odor from the cleaning solvents used at , which is below the apartment.

It was a busy day for LCFD, which also responded to an accident on Central Avenue, a struck pedestrian and a couple of automatic fire alarms. Only minor injuries resulted from those incidents.