A building inside a Long Island condominium complex went up in flames early Monday, the heat of the inferno so intense it melted the siding on a neighboring building.
The fire ripped through the complex on Leeward Court in Port Jefferson at about 2:30 a.m.
Resident Joe Subbiondo heard the alarms: "I look to my right and there's a huge ball of flame next to me. I just ran. I just got out as quick as I could."
"These flames were shooting out of the roof," said another neighbor named Eleanor McGuire. "I had to get dressed in a hurry... Someone's pounding on my door, telling me, 'Fire, fire, get out.'"
"I couldn't believe it. I thought I was dreaming. I don't know. I just couldn't -- it was wild," said Subbinodo, who grabbed his cellphone but left behind his wallet and keys.
"I have no clothes, I have nothing. Everything is gone," he said.
Six families were displaced in the blaze, including Subbiondo. No one was hurt, which Port Jefferson Fire Chief Charles Russo called "lucky."
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"The fire could have spread down the entire line of the building," he said.
Subbiondo says he has friends and neighbors he can turn to for help.
"I'll be OK," he said.
McGuire echoed the sentiment.
"I'm just so lucky I'm alive and that no one was injured in this," she said. "That's all that really matters."
The blaze started where a deck once stood. The fire department is still searching for a cause.
At this point, it doesn't appear to be suspicious.
