Suffolk County Police homicide squad and arson section detectives are investigating a residential fire that killed a man in Mastic.
Police responded to 911 calls reporting a house fire, located at 67 Overlook Drive, at 6:40 p.m.
Two residents, John and Maryann Gaeta, escaped the fire.
Their son, Frank Gaeta, 56, was found dead on the back deck.
Police said John Gaeta, 80, and Maryann Gaeta, 81, were transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for smoke inhalation.
Mastic Beach Fire Department Chief Steve Januszkiewicz said they were there within two to three minutes of the house when the call went out.
Blaze busters said when they arrived, the house was fully engulfed.
Some neighbors reported hearing an explosion before they saw flames, and that is being investigated.
Multiple fire companies responded, including: Mastic, Mastic Beach, Brookhaven, Bellport, Center Moriches, and East Moriches.
Ridge was standing by to cover the districts while the other departments were at the scene.
Several ambulance companies were also on the scene – Mastic, Shirley, Mastic Beach, and South Country.
A firefighter with the Mastic Fire Department suffered burns on his hand at the scene and was taken to the hospital to treat the injury.
Bill Biondi, Commissioner of the Mastic Beach Fire Department, said, “It was a huge fire. We got there about 6 minutes after the alarm and the house was fully engulfed. There were a lot of firefighters there. So many trucks that Long Island Power Authority trucks had trouble getting in to the site to turn the power off. We were there until about 11:30 last night.”
The fire is under investigation, but firefighters said it appears non-criminal. A leaking propane tank was found after the fact, but it is unknown at this time whether that had anything to do with the fire.