By Eden Laikin and Elizabeth Moore
Newsday
Copyright 2007 Newsday, Inc.
BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — Brentwood fire officials say they are conducting an internal investigation in the aftermath of a Feb. 2 house fire where three people died, after releasing records showing the first volunteer engine did not arrive at the scene for almost 13 minutes after 911 was called.
Homeowner Matilde Argueta, his tenant and her 11-month-old son died in the fire.
The response by Brentwood, Suffolk’s busiest fire department, was nearly four minutes slower than the nine-minute national standard for volunteers. Once the 911 call was routed through dispatchers to the fire department, it still took nearly 11 minutes to arrive at the home less than a mile away.
“That’s a lot of time. That’s no good,” said Oscar Argueta, Matilde’s cousin. “Why did it take so long? "
The fire was one of two this winter - the other was Jan. 21 in Shirley - in which lives were lost after volunteer engines were slow to arrive, according to records obtained by Newsday under the Freedom of Information Law.
Whether a quicker response would have saved lives in either case can’t be known. But both fires reflect the essential nature of Long Island’s fire system, which depends on volunteers summoned from their jobs and homes, sometimes in the middle of the night.
A 2005 Newsday analysis found 80 percent of similar Suffolk departments failed the national response-time standard.
More than 12 minutes passed after a 911 call before the Mastic Beach Fire Department’s first engine reached the scene of the Shirley fire where a woman died in an upstairs bathroom, dispatch records show.
Mastic Beach officials say the family of victim Delores Hutt worsened the fire by delaying their call for help, and by opening doors and attempting to put the fire out themselves. Officials also say the early morning hour and the weather were factors in their response time.
Joe Williams, Suffolk’s commissioner of fire, rescue and emergency services, defended both volunteer departments. “Given the time of night and the conditions, these times were acceptable,” he said.
But experts say a quicker arrival might have had a big impact.
“If the firefighters had gotten there faster, it could have made a significant difference,” said Tim McGrath, a former fire chief and highly regarded emergency services consultant based in Illinois, who evaluated a timeline of both fires.
“Tragically, someone died,” he said. “But what you have to realize is if you have a volunteer department, you’re going to lose minutes upfront through no fault of anyone. “
A structure fire doubles in size every minute, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The association said the likelihood someone will die in a fire is almost 10 times greater when it spreads beyond the room in which it started, which takes about 10 minutes.
Experts say a five-minute response time maximizes the chance of saving lives. The national standard for volunteers in communities like Mastic Beach and Brentwood is to get a 15-person crew to the scene in nine minutes, 90 percent of the time.
Brentwood arrived within nine minutes 76 percent of the time, according to a 2005 Newsday analysis. Mastic Beach only met the nine-minute mark on 43 percent of its calls.
And early-morning response times typically are slower.
“Most people are sleeping at that hour,” Mastic Beach Fire Commissioner William Biondi said. “You have to get yourself oriented. There’s driving time. ... There’s ice on the windows. We can’t just stick our head out of the window and take off. “
Paid departments, where members sleep at firehouses overnight, typically take less than a minute to get under way. Many volunteer departments around the country staff overnight shifts at firehouses to ensure a prompt response. But this approach has been unpopular on Long Island and is not the general practice in either of the two departments.
In Shirley, it took more than nine minutes from the 911 call for the first engine to leave the firehouse. And in Brentwood, the first engine left 10 minutes, 43 seconds after the 911 call.
“That’s problematic because it’s way beyond the national standard goal,” said Les Adams, a Maryland-based consultant who advises fire departments across the country. “That turnout time is very long. “
The Brentwood fire broke out about 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 2. Matilde Argueta’s 14-year-old daughter woke him, saying tenant Maria Ventura was upstairs screaming. Matilde and his wife, Hilda, tried to get upstairs but were driven back by heat and smoke. As Matilde filled a container with water and made a second try, Hilda told their daughter to call 911.
The 911 call came in at 1:33:26 a.m. Firefighters were notified at 1:35:42, after the call was processed by police, county and department fire dispatchers. That 2-minute, 16-second gap far exceeds the National Fire Protection Association’s 60-second dispatch standard, McGrath said.
The first engine reached the home at 1:46:24 - 10 minutes, 42 seconds after Brentwood got the call, far longer than its own average response time of 6 minutes, 36 seconds.
When firefighters arrived the second floor was ablaze, Chief William Winning said that day. Argueta, Ventura and her baby were found dead in Ventura’s upstairs bedroom.
Winning declined to comment further last week, citing the department’s investigation.
Suffolk police estimate the Shirley fire broke out about 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 21 after a candle left burning by Hutt’s sister ignited a living room couch.Family members tried moving the couch outside, police said, but couldn’t get it through the front door. The air coming into the opening fueled the fire, which spread quickly.
A neighbor called 911 at 4:34:16 a.m., county fire officials said. Mastic Beach firefighters were notified 1 minute, 26 seconds later. Police said Hutt was crying for help out her bathroom window when they arrived, which they say was 4:40 a.m. When Fire Chief Anthony Capersino arrived at 4:41, the fire was heading upstairs. That’s why he disagrees with the police timeline.
“This fire had to have been burning 20 minutes,” he said. “The first floor was fully engulfed.
“People need to be educated,” Capersino said. “Don’t open doors. Don’t try to put the fire out. Just get out. “
Firefighters found Hutt in the upstairs bathroom; she was pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital.
Hutt’s family members did not return calls for comment.
McGrath said questioning the system after someone dies “is not the time to ask if volunteer departments work. “
That, McGrath said, should be asked much earlier.
Deadly urgencey
How fast a typical fire can consume a house (Times are estimates.)
Time from start of fire: 5 min.
Firefighters will have the best chance of saving lives if t hey arrive within 5 minutes.
15% of house destroyed
8-10 minutes
Fire spreads to other rooms, becoming harder to contain
50% of house destroyed
11 minutes
Fire has rapidly spread to most of the house
80% of house destroyed
16 minutes
Fire engulfs house.
100% of house destroyed
Fatal minutes
A comparison of timelines of two recent houses blazes that killed four people
Shirley Fire, Jan. 21
Fire starts at about 4:30 a.m.
The residents try to put out the fire themselves before neighbors call 911 about foru minutes later.
Police get 911 call.
1 minute, 26 seconds
Mastic Beach fire District is notified
5 minutes, 44 seconds
Suffolk police arrive at scene.
6 minutes, 49 seconds
Fire chief arrives at scene in personal car.
9 minutes, 22 seconds
First fire engine and crew leave firehouse.
12 minutes, 35 seconds
First fire engine arrives at scene. Victim is transported to hospital about 40 minutes after that, where she is pronounced dead.
Brentwood Fire, Feb. 2
Fire starts at about 1:30 a.m.
The residents try to put out the fire themselves before calling 911 more than three minutes later.
Police get 911 call.
2 minutes, 16 seconds
Brentwood Fire District is notified
10 minutes, 24 seconds
Fire chief arrives at scene in personal car
10 minutes, 43 seconds
First fire engine and crew leave firehouse.
12 minutes, 58 seconds
First fire engine arrives at scene. Two adults and an infant later found dead in upstairs bedroom.