On Oct. 11, at approximately 2300 HRS, a fire was reported at a vacant Waldbaum’s Supermarket at 454 New Dorp Lane on Staten Island, N.Y. A 10-75 was transmitted for a working fire, and the first-due officer requested a special call for two additional tower ladders. FDNY units tried to get a foothold on the fire by utilizing an interior attack, but they were backed out as soon as it was apparent that the building was lost.
The vacant structure was a one-story, 200 x 200-foot supermarket with a bow and truss roof construction. A second alarm was transmitted at 2315 HRS due to a heavy fire condition with flames reaching 30 feet in the air. At 2319 HRS, the roof failed and collapsed into the interior. At 2328 HRS, a third alarm was transmitted, and Battalion 58 was dispatched as the air reconnaissance chief. At the height of the incident, four tower ladders and two satellite units battled the fire, which was declared under control at 0114 HRS.