Fire Devours A House On Lily Pond Lane
Paint thinner ignited 102-year-old structure
(2/14/2008) A historic house on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton was destroyed by fire at midday on Saturday. It started when a spark from a light switch ignited paint thinner workers were using during a renovation project, according to East Hampton Fire Chief Tom Bock.
Kenneth Collum, the East Hampton fire marshal, is still investigating the incident. He agreed that a spark from a light switch in the living room had ignited chemicals being used to remove paint from a wall, and said it was possible that the chemicals had spilled on the switch.
Since the house was under renovation, there were several sections without Sheetrock, leaving the wood frame exposed. Sheetrock helps to slow or stop a fire, Mr. Collum said, and without it the structure burned that much faster.
The chief said his department was alerted to the fire when an automatic alarm went off. While one volunteer was on his way to check the house, dispatchers received a number of calls, beginning at 12:28 p.m., reporting that heavy smoke was billowing out.
As he drove into East Hampton Village, Mr. Bock caught a glimpse of a “big column of smoke” over the treetops. He radioed for help from the neighboring departments. “I knew we had something big going on,” he said.
Flames moved quickly through the two-story residence, he said. Arriving within three minutes, he was just in time to see fire burn through the roof, he said. The first engine arrived a few minutes later, no more than five minutes after the alarm’s activation.
About 80 firefighters, including volunteers from Amagansett and Sag Harbor, spent the next two and a half hours struggling to get the blaze under control.
Rubith Caballeros of the Bronx was one of the three or four workers stripping paint when the fire started, according to police. Mr. Caballeros, 58, was burned on his arms, hands, and face, and treated by ambulance volunteers.
“It could have been a lot worse. We’re very, very lucky that everybody got out,” Chief Bock said. “It’s like throwing a match in a can of gas.”
Although Mr. Collum did not know exactly which chemical they were using, the speed with which the house was destroyed was no surprise given how volatile all such chemicals generally are, he said. The other workers left before police had a chance to interview them, Mr. Collum said.
Jimmy Bennett, a volunteer with the East Hampton Fire Department, was cut in the leg by a board while fighting the fire. Mr. Bock was standing next to him at the time. “I thought he broke his leg, but apparently it was just some muscle damage,” Mr. Bock said.
The injured firefighter was up on crutches by Saturday evening, Mr. Bock said, and had to miss only a few days’ work. “It could have been a lot worse,” he said.
The chief said the blaze was the worst in recent memory. “As far as a fast-moving fire . . . I haven’t seen anything like that in a while.”
Firefighters could only do battle from outside the house, Mr. Bock said. “There was no way we could do an interior attack. There were no floors even left in it,” he said. “We did everything possible.”
They stayed on the property until about 7 p.m. searching for smoldering remnants. Machinery was brought in to level part of the house. “It was too dangerous to leave it,” Mr. Bock said. “It was too unstable to leave overnight.”
Part of the residence, which Mr. Collum said was roughly 3,800 to 4,000 square feet, was 103 years old.
The owners are Jonathan and Corrie Sandelman. According to village records, they bought the house in May 1994 for $2.15 million. The Sandelmans did not return a call to Mr. Sandelman’s office seeking comment.
Mr. Sandelman is a hedge-fund chief executive officer for Sandelman Partners in New York City. Four years ago he left a position as C.E.O. of Bank of America Securities, where he built its equities derivatives business into a “powerhouse,” according to a 2003 article in Risk magazine. He began his career at Salomon Brothers in 1985, joining Bank of America in 1998.
Built in 1905 for Edward T. Cockcroft, the Sandelmans’ house was designed by Harrie T. Lindberg and garnered much attention, appearing on the cover of House and Garden. Mr. Lindberg designed four houses on Lily Pond Lane using a roof technique that became his trademark, according to “East Hampton’s Heritage: An Illustrated Architectural Record.”
From the 1930s until the mid-1990s, the house was owned by Franklin and Winifred Lee d’Olier. Mrs. D’Olier was an aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.