Video, above, by Bryan Lopez, taken during an apartment fire Friday on Birchwood Road in Medford, New York (Suffolk County on Long Island). What appears to be earlier video is immediately below. It’s from On Scene Photography. There is additional video, below, from stringertv
It took hours to put out the fire, but only minutes for the flames to rip through at least eight buildings at the Blue Ridge Condominiums in Medford. It all started shortly after midnight Friday.
“Minutes later the fire was just ripping out of the roof,” said Nick Disabatino, a displaced resident.
“It was crazy. I can’t believe it took out so much of the complex. It was ridiculous,” Disabatino said.
Ridiculous, but sadly routine because of the way this complex was built, according to Medford’s fire chief.
“It’s just the type of construction it was built with, the lack of firewalls between the units,” said Chief Frank Rivera.
The fire started in a second floor condo, which enabled the fire to spread all across the roof of the buildings. Still, police did evacuate the buildings in about five minutes.
