Riverhead firefighters evacuate Home Depot after Route 58 blaze
Firefighters evacuated the Riverhead Home Depot after a trailer behind the store erupted in flames, but no injuries were reported and crews got it under control in about 30 minutes.
Riverhead firefighters evacuated the Home Depot on Route 58 Tuesday afternoon after a trailer behind the store caught fire and sent up dense smoke near the busy Mill Road corridor. No one was hurt, but the blaze forced a shutdown at one of Riverhead’s biggest retail stops and brought multiple departments to 1550 Old Country Rd.
Crews were dispatched at 12:56 p.m., and by the time firefighters arrived, a trailer behind the big-box store was fully engulfed. The fire spread from that trailer to a second trailer, and the Riverhead Fire Department brought the blaze under control in about 30 minutes. The Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps stood by at the scene while firefighters worked.
Help arrived from Jamesport, Flanders, Wading River, Ridge, Westhampton and Hampton Bays, underscoring how quickly a rear-lot fire can pull in mutual aid on a commercial stretch as busy as Route 58. The store, Home Depot #1222, sits in a shopping area with Petco and IHOP nearby, where even a short-lived emergency can interrupt shoppers, workers and traffic in the Riverhead shopping corridor.
The store remained closed Tuesday afternoon while crews handled cleanup and the trailers were removed. Police believed the cause was non-criminal, and the Riverhead Fire Marshal’s Office was investigating.
The incident also revived memories of another fire at the same Riverhead Home Depot in March 2022. That fire started outside the front of the store, consumed lawn chairs stacked outside and spread to the exterior wall, scorching the facade near the main entrance. As with Tuesday’s blaze, no injuries were reported.
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