Long Island community quickly mobilizes to help family impacted by devastating house fire
ISLIP, N.Y. -- A Wednesday morning fire raced through the home of a Long Island family. The parents and their four young children made it out alive, but their home is a total loss.
CBS2 met with the family members and their neighbors, who are rallying around the family just days before Christmas.
The Mascianas received comfort at their Islip doorstep. The shaken parents of four young children between the ages of 4 months and 7 years escaped the house fire with their lives, but nothing more.
"I think that we are overwhelmed with the love and the support and we have some really good people around us," JP Masciana said.
The family's Bertram Street home was destroyed. All of their possessions, along with the family dog, were lost.
"They were notified of the fire apparently by the cleaning lady screaming 'Fire!' We actually had a fire engine on the scene within three minutes of being dispatched by Suffolk 911. The house was very heavily engulfed," Islip Fire Department Assistant Chief Jared Gunst said.
"It's heartbreaking. It was scary for all of us. The neighbors just standing helpless in the street, watching it go up, and it went up fast," John Searson said.
Neighbors like John Boufis jumped into action.
"We took over the family. We had them in our house," Boufis said. "We kept them warm and fed them. They had no clothes. Everything was burned."
Good Samaritans ran out to buy outfits for all of the family members and began collection drives on social media.
"Our community is very, very close. I just think we are here to help each other," Katherine Acevedo said.
"We are doing everything we can to help them out. It's just a real tough time for something like this to happen," Bob Estler added.
As word spread in the community, clothing and essentials from total strangers were being dropped off at Islip Cold Beer Company.
"That's what having a local small business is all about, for the community to have a spot to drop off to help other families in need," owner Michael Boufis said.
"Community has been really, really nice. It's overwhelming for us," Masciana said.
The family said the outpouring was so unexpected, it is easing their heartbreak at Christmas.