A Jericho fire official claims the Long Island Power Authority's (LIPA) slow response to a house fire hurt firefighting efforts Wednesday.

"One quarter to one half of the house [suffered] flame damage and the rest is smoke and water damage," Howard Pastolove says about his Holly Drive home.

Jericho Fire Chief Glenn Gilberg said the fire started outside the house, where LIPA power lines connect a pole and the home. According to Gilberg, the fire department asked LIPA to shut off the power at 8:12 a.m. Gilberg says LIPA arrived at 8:40 or 8:41 a.m., more than 20 minutes after the truck left its Hicksville facility.

"It posed a unique and extraordinary risk to our members," Gilberg says. "It inhibited our ability to put water on the fire where we needed to."

LIPA representatives say its trucks do not have sirens and are subject to the same rush hour traffic as everyone else.

Nobody was injured in the fire.