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Firefighters save B&B in Cutchogue

PHOTO COURTESY OF CUTCHOGUE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Firefighters responding to an early morning blaze Sunday at Andrew’s Legacy Bed and Breakfast on Route 25 in Cutchogue. All guests escaped, but the owner suffered a minor injury while being helped from the house.

Elizabeth MacNish, the 73-year-old owner of Andrew’s Legacy Bed and Breakfast on Route 25 in Cutchogue, broke her toe and hurt a leg while escaping from a fire that started in a rear storage shed and workshop before spreading to one of the rooms just before 3 a.m. Sunday.

Bed and breakfast guests escaped with the help of area firefighters, police said. Ms. MacNish fell while being helped out and was taken by Mattituck Fire Department ambulance to Eastern Long Island Hospital. Her injuries were described as minor.

The Cutchogue Fire Department, with assistance from the Mattituck and Southold departments, had the fire under control in minutes, by about 3:15 a.m., police said. Propane tanks and other flammable materials caused the blaze to spread rapidly and reach the rear of an occupied room on the first floor, according to the Cutchogue Fire Department. Firefighters extinguished the blaze before it spread farther.

Ms. MacNish, who has owned the building since the late 1960s, said it “needs to be washed from top to bottom,” but there was no structural damage. The house was built in the 1920s, according to the Andrew’s Legacy website.

“It could take months,” she said on Tuesday. “I’m just glad the guests got out and were fine. They handled it wonderfully.”

In all, 90 volunteers responded to the call. A vehicle parked in the driveway was damaged by the heat.

The Suffolk County Arson Squad was investigating, but the blaze was not considered suspicious, police said.

ERIN SCHULTZ