Evacuees await word on return after fire at Central Islip apartment complex

The day after Mildred Mills, her two young children and more than a dozen others had to evacuate a Central Islip apartment complex to escape a fast-moving fire, she, like all the rest, remained uncertain Wednesday about what comes next.

Mills and her children, who live in one of the 32 units of an apartment building at the Hawthorne Living complex on Hawthorne Avenue, got out safely, along with the roughly 20 other residents who were home, after the fire broke out about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

On Wednesday, still unable to return home with no clear indication of when that will change, the family trio were "not so good," Mills said. They stayed in Patchogue on Tuesday night with her mother, who Mills said doesn't mind the company.

Even so, after she and her children fled the burning Hawthorne Avenue apartment building with little else but the clothes they were wearing, Mills is "trying to figure out where to go from here."

The fire affected 24 apartments to varying degrees. 

"There’s at least eight to 16 affected by fire or water suppression efforts," said Det. Sgt. James Cullen with the Suffolk County Police Department’s Arson Squad on Tuesday. "Most of the fire was up in the attic area."

At that time, Cullen said "we do not believe that it is criminal in nature at all."

A police department spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon there were no updates on the investigation.

At Lighthouse Tabernacle Church of God, just up the block from the complex and site of the American Red Cross relief effort for evacuees Tuesday evening, office administrator Kerry Brathwaite recalled a day later that "you could definitely tell that people were still in shock at the situation. They had to leave with just the clothes on their back."

Suffolk County Fire Coordinator Rudy Sunderman said those who did not make alternative living arrangements Tuesday evening were "moved to the Holiday Inn Express" in Hauppauge. He added that some residents were "back at the apartments getting belongings" Wednesday. What remained unclear Wednesday was when Mills and about 60 residents can return for good.

Mills, a nurse at Momentum at South Bay for Rehabilitation and Nursing in East Islip, said she hoped to retrieve scrubs for work Wednesday and other personal items "after I drop my kids off to school in the morning."

"I’m not allowed to go to work in regular clothing because I’m a nurse ... and money is kind of tight so I can’t really go to the store and buy scrubs when I have them at home," she said.