Officer Treated for Smoke Inhalation After Huntington House Fire Evacuates Five

A Suffolk County police officer sought treatment at Huntington Hospital for smoke inhalation early Friday after helping clear five people, including an infant, from a burning home on Edgar Court in Huntington, with all occupants confirmed out of the building just two minutes after police first arrived.

Officers reached the Edgar Court address at approximately 12:40 a.m. and had all four adults and the baby safely evacuated by 12:42 a.m. The officer later self-transported to Huntington Hospital for treatment. Police did not immediately release the extent of the injuries, but said the officer is expected to make a full recovery.

SCPD Arson Section detectives are investigating to determine what caused the fire. In Huntington-area cases, the arson unit typically works alongside the Town of Huntington fire marshal's office to establish the origin and cause of residential blazes.

Friday's fire is the latest in a series of incidents that have repeatedly put Huntington-area first responders in harm's way. Approximately four weeks before the Edgar Court blaze, a fatal early-morning house fire in Dix Hills sent three SCPD officers to the hospital for smoke inhalation and left two Dix Hills firefighters with non-life-threatening injuries, while one resident died and the homeowner was also injured. About two weeks after that, eight neighboring fire departments converged on a Huntington Station home where one person was hospitalized.

That level of multi-agency coordination is routine across the Town of Huntington, where more than a dozen volunteer fire departments and ambulance squads share protection duties. Suffolk County's Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services supports more than 10,000 emergency responders serving the county's approximately 1.5 million residents. The SCPD, which covers five of Suffolk County's ten towns, is the second largest county police agency in the United States, with roughly 2,500 sworn officers.

That all five Edgar Court occupants, including an infant, were out of the house within 120 seconds of police arrival reflects both the speed of the response and the exposure officers accepted to make it happen.