By Victoria Espinoza
Smithtown Fire Department responded to a smoke detector alarm coming from a residence in the early hours last Tuesday, Aug. 24.
The department got to a home on Sterling Lane at 3:11 a.m. Smithtown Third Assistant Chief Patrick Diecidue observed heavy smoke coming from the residence and quickly upgraded the call to a working structure fire.
With the possibility of residents in the home, Diecidue, along with the first responders on the scene, took out the front door and immediately proceeded to search the house. They were able to quickly remove a three-year-old girl from a bedroom and brought the child out for medical attention.
Additional arriving units continued the search and found a mother and her 3-month-old infant son on the bathroom floor. They were removed from the residence, and the department said they had inhaled a considerable amount of smoke and were in cardiac arrest.
While firefighters said the smoke was heavy, the fire was limited and quickly brought under control.
Members of the Hauppauge, Kings Park, St. James, and Nesconset fire departments responded to the scene to help, as well as the Central Islip-Hauppauge Volunteer Ambulance Corp.
The victims were treated on the scene and then transported by ambulance. The mother was initially taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown while the children were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital. The mother was later transferred to SBUH for additional care.
