Fire damages Monsey home, lingerie business
July 29, 2015 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
MONSEY — Violation notices are pending against the homeowner who ran illegal basement lingerie business inside a townhouse that burned down Tuesday morning on Park Avenue.
A rear sign at 112 Park Ave. identifies the basement shop as “Chic Lingerie,” where authorities said a fire broke out that made the townhouse uninhabitable. Dozens of firefighters kept the flames from spreading to the attached homes among the row housing at the corner of Kaufman Corner.
Ramapo Fire Inspector Adam Peltz, who is also a Monsey firefighter, said a business is not permitted in a residential area. Peltz said he still needed to investigate the matter further.
Ramapo Building Inspector Anthony Mallia said he expected to issue the homeowner a violation notice for the illegal business. He said the home was not habitable.
The fire started about 9:45 a.m. About 60 volunteers responded from Monsey, Tallman, Spring Valley, Pearl River and Suffern.
The fire spread up the front of the two-story home and also burned portions of the roof.
Monsey Fire Chief Rick Lagarde said the blaze was reported by a woman who was home at the time with several small children, smelled smoke, opened the door to the basement and realized there was a fire. She got out and called 911, he said.
Lagarde said the hot weather slowed down the firefighters, many of whom were sweating through their clothes and guzzling cold water.
Rockland Fire Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. said conditions in the basement were oppressive and dangerous, and particularly difficult for the first team that went in to attack the fire.
“The basement holds heat,” he said.
Mallia adn Wren said the fire walls kept the fire from spreading into the adjacent multi-family townhouses and firefighters kept the fire from spreading into the attic.
The Rockland Sheriff’s Office sent fire investigators to the scene to try to determine the fire’s cause, along with Ramapo police detectives. Authorities initially felt the fire started accidentally.
Dozens of members of the community flocked to the home in the residential neighborhood to watch the fire response.
