September 2, 1974. Labor Day proved to be no period of rest for the fledgling Village of Nisse-quogue Fire Department as members of the year-old organization battled an early morning house fire on Monday for four hours.
The blaze, reported to the fire department at 7:10 a.m. on Monday morning, destroyed major portions of the two story cottage located on the Nissequogue estate of Mrs. Sigourney Olney. The incident was the first large structural fire faced by the 88 men and who form the Nissequogue Department.
Seven firemen from both the Nissequogue Department and neighboring St. James suffered from smoke inhalation and were treated at the scene. Two firemen Art Musumechi and Fred Hall, both of Nissequogue, were later taken to the hospital for treatment.
Mr. Musumechi was treated for smoke inhalation while Mr. Hall was treated for a foot injury.
According to Nissequogue Fire Chief “Hap” Cornelius, the fire apparently started around midnight in the remote, empty, cottage when a lightning strike deposited smouldering embers that burst into flames near dawn. Some 60 volunteers from the Nissequogue Fire Department were joined by another 50 firemen from St. James in bringing the fire under control
The incident may also have been one of the first times in Suffolk that female firemen were involved in fighting a fire. Some five of the eight Nissequogue women who have completed a Suffolk County Fire Prevention Bureau Fire Training Course, manned hoses and trucks as male volunteers raced into the building to make certain it was unoccupied.
Residents of the cottage, who rent from Mrs. Olney, were away for the weekend.
For the Nissequogue volunteers, Monday’s fire came at the end of an 18-hour period during which the department responded to a brush fire, a cardiac arrest call and a boat explosion.
Members of the village ambulance squad transported three persons, who suffered minor injuries, from the boat fire to the hospital on Sunday after-noon. All three were later released that same day.
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