By Scott Axelrod
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — Gripping video footage, shot by a neighbor, captured a roaring two-alarm inferno that gutted a Tompkinsville home and injured three firefighters Saturday night.
The FDNY responded to a call at 7 Rosewood Pl., between Cebra Avenue and Bayview Place, just after 7 p.m., where they found the multi-story residence actively ablaze, Deputy Chief James A. Boylan told an Advance/SILive.com reporter at the scene.
About 106 Fire/EMS personnel fought the fire. The blaze, believed to have started on the second floor of the home, was brought under control at around 9:10 p.m., according to an FDNY spokesperson.
Three firefighters suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, the spokesperson said. The FDNY was unable to provide a status as to their current conditions.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, the FDNY spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, a crash involving an FDNY vehicle occurred on Victory Boulevard, near Cebra Avenue, around the corner from the scene of the fire.
According to police, a 2018 Volkswagon collided with the FDNY vehicle as it was traveling eastbound on Victory Boulevard in the vicinity of Silver Lake Park Road.
The 55-year-old driver of the FDNY vehicle was transported to an area hospital in stable condition with a complaint of pain. A 19-year-old passenger of the Volkswagen was transported to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton in stable condition, also suffering from pain, an NYPD spokesperson said.
The driver of the Volkswagon, Diego Lavina-Calderon , 40, of Summit, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, police said.
An attorney for Lavina-Calderon could not be reached for comment by time of publication.
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Firefighters battling a two-alarm blaze around 3:30 a.m. Thursday kept heavy smoke and flames confined to the rear addition of the Happy Garden restaurant on North Seventh Street, as residents in the apartments above escaped safely