Black smoke, flame explosions seen in Commack fire
The fire chief says propane tanks inside a burning barn increased intensity of fire.
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A fire on Commack Road resulted in multiple explosions before firefighters knocked it down Thursday afternoon.
Video shows black smoke streaming out of a barn and a giant ball of fire billowing into the sky.
The Commack fire chief says a barn caught on fire and spread to multiple buildings. While they don’t know what sparked the flames, he says there were propane tanks inside the barn that probably caused the explosions.
“When we first drove up, we heard the two loud explosions,” said Latisha, from West Babylon. “And then we saw there was just black clouds of smoke billowing up in the air. And you can see the flames shooting up out from behind the building.”
“We stopped it pretty quick,” said fire chief Paul Purrazzella. “That said, we struggled with manpower and hazmat because of the temperatures. So, we had a lot of mutual aid help.”
Three firefighters were treated for minor injuries, but no one working at the barn was hurt.
The fire chief says multiple fire departments responded and had the fire out within an hour.
