East End Hospice Building Saved In LI Fires: 'Angels Watching Over Us'

WESTHAMPTON, NY — From the ashes of the raging brush fires in the Westhampton area this weekend, a miracle emerged: Despite just being located feet from the spot where charred trees bear testament to the blaze, a structure still stands — the East End Hospice building survived the fire.

"Here is our headquarters," East End Hospice President and CEO Mary Crosby wrote on social media. "It may not look like much, but inside this building we coordinate the care of hundreds of patients each day. We answer more than 1,000 phone calls a week from families, hospitals, physicians and field staff. Without the dedicated people who work here, there would be no East End Hospice."

On Sunday, she wrote: "Just 24 hours ago, flames roared around this building, damaging our storage structure and spilling into the parking lot. People have said it’s a miracle the building didn’t burn. We know the truth. It was the dedication and skill of our local fire departments that kept our headquarters standing. In the early hours of the fire. We received very little information until a text came through from a firefighter on the ground: 'We saved Hospice.'"

Crosby added: "We will never forget that moment. These are volunteers leaving the ease of a Saturday afternoon to risk their lives to save others. We share the common bond of community and compassion, and because of their bravery we can continue to provide our care to patients across the East End. We are overcome with gratitude for this special community and all of its first responders. Thank you so much from our team to yours."

Speaking with Patch Monday morning, Crosby said there had been fire on three sides of the building. "So many people reached out to us to say, 'My grandfather, my mother — you took care of them.' And now, they were looking out for us. There were so many angels looking out for us — and so many heroes on the ground. So many, looking out for us from above and such exceptional work by firefighters. That's what saved our building. It was really beautiful."

During the first hours of the fire Saturday, the fear was that the building was gone, Crosby said. "It looked like the fire was on top of the building. One firefighter said he thought he saw flames curling over our roof."

But, despite the fact that a storage unit on the property burned, just feet away, the main building was saved. "We are really grateful," Crosby said.

When she first got back to the building, Crosby said: "I saw how close by it was to the woods that are charred; there were embers there and flames that had been surrounding the building. I burst into tears."

But it's not the first time the building was spared. In 1995, the East End Hospice structure also survived the Pine Barrens wildfires. "The fires came very close then, too, but not this close," she said. "We've always felt as an organization that because of the work we do — we have a lot of people looking out for us."