August 23, 1949 A midnight fire on the Griffin Estate in the Smithtown Branch all but trapped the George Hathaway Family in their 2nd story apartment in one of the farm buildings. The family escaped by jumping from the second floor to the roof of a chicken house and then to the ground. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway sustained injuries. Their daughter Janet, was reported unhurt. The building was completely destroyed, but the firemen prevented the blaze from spreading to the other buildings on the property after a four hour battle.
The fire was discovered by Mr. Hathaway when he smelled smoke and opened a door to investigate and found the stairway ablaze. Closing the for and breaking out a screen in a window, he and his wife and daughter escaped onto a roof and then to the ground.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway sustained sprains and bruises from their jumps.
The alarm was turned in at 0025 hours and when the fire department arrived, the building was heavily involved. The nearest source of water was on the Fredrick Lohmann farm some 1000 feet away.
In the adjoining building were nearly 8000 chicks of the Arthur Seaver Farm. The firemen were able to contain the flames to the one building so only 34 chicks were lost. The lack of water necessitated trucks doing a shuttle service to the nearest hydrants to supplement the water from the Lohmann farm. The firemen finally brought the flames under control after four hours and made safe the adjoining buildings.
Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Martin took the Hathaway family in for the night. Mr. Hathaway said that he thought that an overheated kerosene hot water heater was the cause of the fire. 8-25-1949 Smithtown News.
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