Mastic, NY - On July 18th at about 2:41 P.M., the Mastic Fire Department was activated for a report of a commercial building fire on Montauk Highway, in the vicinity of Hawthorne Street.

Due to the nature of the call, automatic mutual aid from Mastic Beach FD was also assigned to the call. Chief of Mastic FD, Rudy Sunderman, was first to arrive on scene and confronted with heavy smoke and flames engulfing the side of the building up to the roof.

Chief Sunderman requested that Fire-Com activate his mutual aid departments for a working fire. This bought an RIT Team from Center Moriches, the quint from Manorville [5-16-6], and an additional engine from East Moriches to assist in battling the fire on an already hot and humid Saturday.

A line was brought through the front door and another line was brought through the gate to the side of the building. In addition, Chief Sunderman ordered the ladder to be placed into operation in the front of the building to make an aggressive exterior attack.

With multiple departments operating at the same time, firefighters were able to make a quick knockdown of the fire. EMS was called to the scene from Mastic and Shirley ambulance to provide firefighter rehab. This was especially important to have EMS on scene providing rehab as well as water and other support to firefighters because of how hot it was.

All units were placed back in service around 4:00 P.M. The Brookhaven Town Fire Marshal was on scene investigating the cause of the fire.