UPDATE: Family Uninjured After House Fire; Community Offers Help

Southold residents John and Janine Bakanic and their daughter Jessie were not home at 3:45 p.m. on Friday, when an completely gutted their home on North Bayview Road.

Members of the and responded to the scene and had the fire contained by 10:15 p.m., said Southold Fire Chief Keith Cummings on Saturday. Southold's First Assistant Chief Bill Byrnes lead the attack on the fire, and had a pumper truck on standby.

"By the time we got there, the house was already fully involved with flames," Chief Cummings said, adding that the structure was built fairly recently. "And by the time we got set up, the flames were shooting through the roof and the sides."

Members of the Suffolk County Arson Squad are currently investigating cause of the fire — the worst Chief Cummings said he's seen since a  fire destroyed a home on Paradise Point Road a number of years ago.

In the meantime, community members are reaching out on North Fork Patch and on Facebook to offer help to the Bakanics, who were not available for comment. Joanna Lane and Kim Sullivan Chilton offered temporary housing in Southold and Greenport, and several others offered clothing, linen and kitchen supplies.