1975-02-20

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i4 Prae Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920 ®
An Official Newspaper far the Village of Farmingdak
VOL. 56 NO - yStg' Second Class Postage Paid
in Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 Thursday, February 20, 1975 Copyright 1975 by
Island- Wide Publication, Inc.
price 1 54 - $ 5 per year
Fire Razes Four Main St. Stores
Six Depts.
Fight Blaze
SMOKE AND FLAMES bunt through the roof of the abandoned
" Outcast" building early Sunday morning. What appears to be white
smoke in the photo actually is a supercharged bright red ball of fire.
Six fire companies fought the blaze from shortly after midnight until 7
a. m. before bringing it under control.
[ Post photo by Bob Starrett]
Man Of The Year Award Sunday
The annual observance of
Brotherhood Week' in Far­mingdale
will take place at the
Weldon E. Howitt Jr. High School,
Sunday February 23 at 2 p. m.
The program will commence
with a patriotic presentation by
the Girl Scouts followed by the
presentation of the colors by Boy
Scout Troop 514.
Anton J. Kaiser, past governor,
New York District, Kiwanis
International, will act as Master
of Ceremonies and Edward
Wilson, Kiwanis International
representative to the United
Nations will speak on
Brotherhood.
The entertainment for the
program will be presented by folk
groups from local churches
followed by a performance by the
Farmingdale High School
" Daler's Dance Band."
The climax of the afternoon
will be the presentation of the
" Man of the Year" award to a
resident of Farmingdale who has
given of himself or herself for the
betterment of the community and
those who live there.
The program is jointly spon­sored
by the Kiwanis, Lions and
Rotary Clubs of Farmingdale.
The chairmanship for 1975 is
under the direction of the
Kiwanis Club and committeeman
Kiwanian Jim Anderson.
Children's Collection
This Sunday afternoon local
youngsters will join in observing
the 12th annual Farmingdale
Children's Day Interfaith
Brotherhood program by con­ducting
a door- to- door collection
of coins to assist the Far­mingdale
Youth Board's
Carousel after school program.
The children will wear iden­tification
tags and carry con­tainers
with official F. C. D.
wrappers. A collection center for
return of the funds will be open
from 2 to 4 p. m. at St. Kilian's
Conklin Street school building,
where the Farmingdale Singers
I Continued on page 12]
Six fire companies battled the
early Sunday morning blaze
which completely gutted four
Main Street, Farmingdale, stores
and left eight families homeless.
The first alarm was sounded for
the village fire department at
12: 15 a. m. and they were joined
shortly after by South Far­mingdale,
East Farmingdale,
Bethpage, Plainview and
Hicksville.
According to a fire department
spokesman, the probable cause of
the fire was a short circuit in the
Outcast at 194 Main Street, which
has been vacant since the first of
the year.
The eight families, who lived in
the apartments over the Central
Bar and Grill, were relocated by
the Red Cross and Salvation
Army in temporary quarters.
Some moved in with nearby
relatives.
Fire entered a false triple layer
ceiling over the store and
traveled into the Craft Spot-through
a common wood frame
wall. Firemen were driven from
the building when the ceiling
collapsed.
The fire then spread into the
Central Bar & Grill by travelling
through windows adjacent to the
Craft Spot.
Firemen prevented the spread
of fire into Captain Andy's
Restaurant by playing streams of
water from their hoses into a
narrow separation between the
two buildings. Capt. Andy's
suffered slight water and smoke
damage.
One Farmingdale fireman
narrowly escaped death in the
fire and credits the quick action
on the part of two fire chiefs with
saving his life. Fireman Larry
Giannino told the Post he was on
the peak of the slanted roof over
Capt. Andy's Restaurant with a
2Vfc inch hose spraying water
down into the burning Outcast
building when a sudden blast of
unknown origin blew him off his
hose and the roof peak.
He said he began rolling down
the slanted roof, being forced
toward the edge by the spray of
his own hose. Just before he
reached the edge of the roof and
dropped to his death in the
blazing building below, two men
grabbed him by the coat and
dragged him back to safety.
The two men were East Far­mingdale
Fire Chief Phil Murtha
and past chief Donald Glasscott
of the Village of Farmingdale
I Continued on page 12]