Couple sifts through remains of Huntington Station home after fire
Robert Senk and his girlfriend have lived in the house on Pidgeon Hill Road for 15 years.
More Stories
A Huntington Station home was destroyed by fire Friday night, sending one person to the hospital with minor injuries.
On Sunday, the couple who lived there returned to sift through the destruction.
Robert Senk was home when the fire started.
“It’s 100 years old,” Senk said. “This wood, it went up like it had gasoline on it.”
He used three fire extinguishers and shoveled snow onto the flames before escaping. Senk believes the fire started in an electrical outlet, but fire officials have not confirmed the cause.
“When I looked up, I noticed the fire got behind me,” he said. “So I knew it was time to bail out. So I jumped over this banister here.”
Senk and his girlfriend have lived in the house on Pidgeon Hill Road for 15 years. “There’s times when it hits you,” he said. “It’s very overwhelming.”
They lost everything, but Senk said he is grateful he and his girlfriend are OK. He was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, including burns on his head and feet, blisters on his hands and carbon monoxide in his lungs.
“How many times do you watch on the news and somebody like me is being interviewed? And you think, ‘Wow, what a bummer,’ and then you go into the kitchen and make yourself a ham sandwich,” Senk said. “And then that person on TV is you.”
Senk is now searching for his pet — a black cat with green eyes — who he believes ran off when the fire started.
