Commack barn fire sends black smoke and explosions, injures firefighters

Black smoke and two loud explosions turned a Commack Road barn fire into a fast-moving emergency Thursday afternoon, with flames visible from behind the building and the blaze spreading to multiple structures in Commack.

Latisha of West Babylon said she heard “two loud explosions” before seeing black smoke billowing into the air and flames shooting up from behind the building. Fire Chief Paul Purrazzella said propane tanks inside the barn likely caused or intensified the blasts, turning what might have been a contained fire into a more dangerous scene for crews and nearby properties.

Firefighters knocked the fire down within about an hour, but not before the response grew well beyond a routine local call. Three firefighters were treated for minor injuries. No one working at the barn was hurt, an important detail given the amount of smoke, the explosions and the presence of stored fuel inside the structure.

The fire began about 1:34 p.m. at a commercial nursery on Commack Road, and the Commack Fire Department was first to arrive. From there, the response widened to include firefighters from more than a dozen departments as crews worked through the heat, the smoke and the hazmat concerns tied to the propane tanks. What began as a barn fire quickly became a multi-agency operation, with departments from across Suffolk County helping to keep the flames from spreading farther.

The incident showed how quickly a fire in a barn or nursery setting can escalate when combustible materials are involved. With propane tanks in the mix, the danger was not limited to the building itself. It extended to the firefighters working the scene, the neighboring structures and the people who live and work along a busy stretch of Commack Road. Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services coordinates the county’s emergency-response structure for more than 1.5 million residents, and its Fire Marshal’s Office handles fire investigations and technical response assistance when scenes like this require county-level support.

For Commack, the blasts and black smoke were the clearest signs of how close the fire came to becoming a larger disaster. Even with the blaze under control within about an hour, the response left three firefighters injured and raised the stakes for anyone nearby as crews fought to keep the fire from jumping again.