From: New Years Day Larchmont Fire

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Larchmont mayor's house fire raised response issues

By AMAN ALI

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: January 3, 2008)

LARCHMONT - When a two-alarm fire scorched the mayor's home Tuesday, the Larchmont Fire Department turned first to New Rochelle, rather than the closer Mamaroneck town fire department, because of a still-simmering squabble with several former village firefighters, Fire Chief Richard Heine said.

"We were trying to avoid the possibility of an incident," Heine said. "We were in a difficult situation and the fewer concerns you have while operating at an emergency scene is best."

Last year, the village's decision to hire Heine as the paid chief to oversee its fire department angered many volunteers there accustomed to appointing a chief among themselves. Nineteen firefighters resigned as a result, around a dozen of whom now work for the town of Mamaroneck's department.

Mayor Liz Feld called the fire department at 6:36 a.m. Tuesday for a garage fire at her home at 36 Monroe Avenue. Feld and her family evacuated the house safely. Yesterday, she said the damage from the fire is estimated at several hundred thousand dollars.

Heine said the decision to not ask the town of Mamaroneck to be on the scene was not political. He said it was only done to avoid incidents that might have occurred with the former Larchmont employees now working for the Mamaroneck department.

He noted the village did not ignore the town of Mamaroneck's fire department, which covered Larchmont's headquarters during the fire instead. Mamaroneck's fire department, which has its headquarters 1.1 miles from Feld's home, is closer to the scene of the blaze than neighboring New Rochelle.

"Everything ended up working out perfectly well," Heine said. "The fire was knocked down quickly and the mayor did a fantastic job alerting her family and getting out of there."

Heine also confirmed that the police department initially made an error in trying to reach the Larchmont chief after the fire broke out. Police tried speed dialing the fire chief to alert him of the fire, but instead called Brian Payne, who hasn't been Larchmont's fire chief in over three years.

He said police apparently had an outdated number programmed into their phone system, but said the mistake has since been corrected.

Heine responded to the fire after receiving a call from a firefighter at 7:01 a.m., and arrived just under 20 minutes later - about the time the fire was brought under control.

According to the fire report, the fire at Feld's home was caused by a failed electrical circuit in the garage. Feld said she had not been aware of the problem; she and her family have been living in the 1920s era home since 2000.

Within 30 seconds of waking up to alerts from the home's smoke detectors, Feld evacuated the house with her husband, three children and a nephew who was spending the night there.

"There was so much smoke, my husband couldn't find his shoes so he ran outside with his bare feet," Feld said. "The kids were outside with their blankets still wrapped around them, too."

The fire destroyed most of Feld's garage, including sentimental items stored there, such as memorabilia from her job working at the White House during President Ronald Reagan's administration and all her husband's videotapes from his work as a TV producer.