Two women killed in fire at senior housing complex on Long Island

PLAINVIEW, N.Y. (AP) — Two women were killed in a fire Sunday at a Long Island senior housing complex, police said.

Firefighters found Theresa Casale, 84, dead in an apartment and Lynne Citron, 74, died at a hospital after sustaining severe burns in the fire in a 10-unit building at the Jesse Harmon Shepherd Hill complex in Plainview, Nassau County police said.

The blaze started just after 5 a.m. Sunday and tore through the second floor and the roof of a two-story building in the complex, just east of the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway. The complex is owned by the Town of Oyster Bay Housing Authority.

“A nightmare. It was really the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” resident Vincent Lupo told WCBS-TV.

Two residents were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation. Plainview Assistant Chief Andrew Cohen said firefighters rescued an unconscious woman who is now expected to make a full recovery. Other residents were treated at the scene.

Two firefighters were struck by debris from a partial roof collapse, Cohen said. The firefighters, one of them Cohen’s son, were pulled to safety by a third firefighter, the assistant chief told Newsday.