A Commack man was killed in a fire Tuesday evening, despite Suffolk police efforts to rescue him.
Four other people escaped the fire on their own.
Police gave this account:
Second Precinct officers responded to 44 Spinner Lane, Commack at 6:44 p.m. after a 911 caller reported a fire at the location. A Second Precinct patrol officer arrived on scene and entered the house where Jean Laurent was still upstairs. The officer was unable to remove Laurent from the residence.
Laurent, 40, a resident of the home, was later found and pronounced dead on the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.
Four other occupants of the home were in the house at the time the fire started.
Bertha Glaude, 67, Laurent’s mother, was able to exit the upstairs apartment before police arrived. Three downstairs residents, Bruce Alber, 58, Bruce Alber II, 40, and Nicholas Alber, 34, also exited the house prior to police arrival. Glaude and Nicholas Alber were both taken to area hospitals for treatment of smoke inhalation.
The Second Precinct officer was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for evaluation.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.