FIRE DESTROYS OAKWOOD BEACH ‘DREAM’ HOME
by Tim Vassilakos
Staten Island Advance, NY –
Aug 1 2007
An American Dream was burned down yesterday afternoon, as an Armenian
family came home to a pile of rubble that had been their Oakwood
Beach home.
Georgiy Mikaelian, alongside his son, Vazgen, came home after a hard
day’s work of construction in Queens last night, only to see their
cherished home at 110 Tarlton St. turned into a pile of ashes.
"I have no idea what to do now," Vazgen lamented. "I guess we just
board up the house, and see where it goes from there." To make
matters worse, their beloved pit bull, Linda, who they’ve had for
eight years–since she was a puppy — died in the fire, most likely
from smoke inhalation because there were no burn marks on the canine.
According to neighbors, someone close-by tried to revive the dog,
but got no response.
"We just want to take her [the dog] away– the proper way," said Vazgen
as he stood over the bodybag of his dog. "We loved that dog, loved it."
Mikaelian, who does not speak English very well, could not hold back
tears as he tried to clean up his yard which was filled with furniture
that had been launched out of the windows.
"Last week, I tell my son ‘house is good, let’s buy new boat,’ so we
buy new boat," he said as he pointed to his unharmed brown and tan
fishing boat. "Now? House is bad."
The rest of the family, which included his wife, a daughter, and
an additional son — who the family did not want to name — are on
vacation in Russia.
"They’re going to come home to a bad surprise," said Vazgen. "My
sister’s heart, it’s going to be broken."
The fire was first spotted around 11:30 a.m., by two fishermen who
were at Oakwood Beach — one was an off-duty firefighter assigned to
Engine 28, Manhattan.
According to fire department officials, the blaze in the 20-by-30-foot,
one-story home was called in at 11:46 a.m. and was under control by
12:10 p.m.
"We first saw some smoke and then [my friend, a firefighter] ran over
to the house to check it out," said Rich Spadaro of Oakwood. "I was
only trailing him by only a minute or so, but by the time I got there
[he] was already crawling out of the house coughing from smoke."
Both of them were given oxygen after EMS arrived.
Spadaro said that they found a powerwasher — which Mikaelian used
to clean his boat — in the sideyard, and tried as hard as they could
to extinguish the flames.
"We were smashing windows, trying to get in there to see if it was
occupied," he said. "That powerwasher just wasn’t enough, it was
doing nothing. I tried my hardest, I really did."
But Spadaro was relived when he found out there were no children in
the home saying, "I see kids around here all the time, and I have my
own kids — last thing I want to see is one get hurt."
Three other firefighters were taken to one of the Staten Island
University Hospitals, for minor injuries, according to fire
officials. Spadaro refused further medical assistance.
The heat was so intense that it melted the blue siding of the
neighboring house at 108 Tarlton St.
As neighbors gathered around the charred structure, they expressed
sympathy for a "very nice family."
"This is a shame, they are such nice people. You’ll never see them
without a friendly ‘hello,’" said one neighbor. "The worst things
always happen to the nicest people. They were only trying to live
out a dream in this country."
As for the house and its contents, almost everything is completely
unsalvageable.
"It’s an old house, we try to keep everything in a safe," said
Vazgen. "There’s nothing good left inside, it’s all burned up, it’s
all gone."