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Fair Fire destroys Valley Stream IHOP
Much of the familiar pointed blue roof of the Valley Stream IHOP was gone after a two-alarm fire destroyed the building last Saturday morning, shortly before it was set to open for breakfast.
Firefighters were called to the scene at 6:30 a.m., and Valley Stream Fire Chief Joseph Fernandez said that the units that were first to arrive found heavy smoke and flames shooting through the restaurant’s roof. Firefighters were on the scene within two minutes of the call, he added.
The IHOP, at 180 E. Sunrise Highway, not far from the Lynbrook border, burned until well after daybreak. Fernandez said it took 100 firefighters from seven departments about three hours to extinguish the flames. Because the fire was in the roof and because of the intensity of the flames, Fernandez said, they could not fight it from inside. Three tower ladders — two from Valley Stream and one from Malverne — set up around the building to pour water on the roof.
Though not much of the restaurant itself burned, it still suffered extensive damage from water and the collapsing roof. Fernandez said that the building was so unsafe that firefighters were unable to complete their work. The Fire Department was called back at 11:30 a.m. when contractors on scene reported an area still smoldering.
The fire most likely started in the kitchen. According to a Nassau County Police Department report, an employee came in to open up the restaurant and turned on the grills. Minutes later, the worker noticed a lot of smoke coming from the grill area and left the building to call 911. According to IHOP’s website, the Valley Stream restaurant was to open at 7 a.m.
Nassau County Fire Marshal Joseph Whittaker said the cause of the fire was unknown, but was not considered suspicious. He said the investigation could take several weeks.
The fire moved into the attic above the kitchen, which is in the middle of the building. Flames spread both ways along the wood-frame roof, fed by lots of oxygen. “There’s nothing there,” Fernandez said of the attic. “It’s an open space.”
