Police Identify Man Killed In Hempstead Apartment Building Fire

HEMPSTEAD, NY. — The 42-year-old man killed in Friday morning's apartment fire has been identified as Hempstead resident Kenneth Roberts, Nassau County police said Friday.

The Nassau County Fire Marshal had previously announced that a 42-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy had died in the fire that had also displaced 10 people.

Roberts and the boy were both discovered in the basement of the apartment building, the fire marshal's office said, with Roberts being pronounced dead at the scene and the boy being taken to Nassau University Medical Center and pronounced dead by medical personnel there. The fire marshal's office said no other civilian injuries were reported, and that one firefighter was evaluated for an ankle injury at the scene.

The Nassau County Fire Marshal’s office said the fire alarm was raised at 4:04 a.m. Friday for a basement fire, with response coming from the Hempstead Fire Department and mutual aid from the Elmont, Freeport, Garden City, Rockville Centre, South Hempstead, Uniondale, West Hempstead and Westbury departments.

In total, the fire marshal’s office said there were about 100 firefighters on the scene, with the fire being brought under control in under 90 minutes.

The fire marshal’s office said it is investigating the cause of the fire with the NCPD arson bomb squad. The building, the fire marshal's office said, has been declared uninhabitable.