5 Killed In Long Island House Fire

RIVERHEAD, NY — Five people died in a house fire that broke out at a Riverhead home Tuesday night, fire officials said.

The Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad and Arson Section detectives responded to a request from Riverhead Town Police to investigate a fire that occurred at 46 East 2nd St. at 10:38 p.m.

The fire was reported by a Riverhead police officer and involved multiple apartments. Several occupants were able to escape from the three-story wood-framed house, but five bodies were found inside the home after the fire had been extinguished, police said.

All five who died were on the third floor and fiv eother people escaped uninjured; there are multiple residences within the home, police said.

A preliminary investigation has determined the cause of the fire to be non-criminal in nature, police said.

No information was immediately available on the ages of those who died, or if they were related; identification is pending positive ID by the medical examiner's office, police said.

The Riverhead Fire Department, Riverhead Police Department, the Suffolk County Police Department's emergency squad, and Suffolk County arson were at the scene investigating. Multiple fire departments assisted in battling the blaze, including the Flanders, Eastport, and Jamesport fire departments, officials said.