Southeast

A raging inferno has destroyed a 5,000-square-foot home belonging to a prominent Westchester attorney in Southeast.

The blaze was reported early Saturday when the Putnam 911 Dispatch Center received several calls reporting a blaze at 12 Pine View Drive, a threestory wood frame dwelling located in a hilly subdivision off Guinea Road in Southeast.

Brewster Fire Department personnel arrived around 1:45am but the house was totally engulfed in flames. Chief Shawn Conrad sounded a general alarm and requested mutual aid from neighboring departments in Putnam and northern Westchester.

Fire crews from Carmel, Putnam Lake, Mahopac, Patterson, Kent, Lake Carmel, and Croton Falls responded to assist their neighbors from Brewster, but despite their efforts the home was destroyed.

Officials said the homeowner, White Plains attorney Gary Tembeck, was awakened by the sound of a smoke detector and, after grabbing his wife and infant, ran out of the house, apparently leaving the front door open which fed the fire with oxygen. Deputy Putnam Emergency Coordinator Ron Davies said Tembeck then realized the family's Doberman was still inside: "He knocked out a rear window with his fist in a valiant effort to save the dog but another draft was created, which also allowed the blaze to intensify."

Tembeck suffered a lacerated hand and was treated by EMS providers at the scene. He later advised fire officials that he was going to White Plains Hospital to have his hand treated, as well as having his infant, who had ingested smoke, checked out.

When the blaze was extinguished, fire officials found the remains of the dog in an attached garage that contained two badly charred vehicles.

The Putnam Fire Investigation Team spent several hours at the scene and traced the origin to the garage area. Chief Conrad said the exact cause remains under investigation but is not considered suspicious.

None of the 75 firefighters who spent five hours at the scene were injured.

-Eric Gross