Power Restoration Suspected of Setting Fire to Second Lynbrook Home

Power is starting to come back to Lynbrook days after Hurricane Sandy struck the area but it could be creating a new danger.

Lynbrook volunteer firefighters were called to a second fire Friday evening inside a home on Thompson Place that had recently had its power restored. On Thursday night, they responded to a fire inside the second-floor bedroom of a home located at the corner of Bixley Heath and Trafalgar Street that had also just had its electricity turned back on.

The Nassau County Fire Marshal was called to the scene of both fires and will make the official determination on what caused the blazes but it's suspected that power restoration could have played a factor. Patch will continue to update this story as new information becomes available.

As of 11 p.m. Friday, the Long Island Power Authority was reporting that more than 5,000 customers in Lynbrook were still experiencing outages. 

To prevent a fire from occuring when your power comes back, unplug your devices and turn off all electrical appliances, so that circuits are not overloaded when the power is restored. Experts suggest leaving one light on to alert you when the power returns. A power surge can potentially cause a fire. 

Additional reporting by Tara Conry.