Major Fire Tears Through CALLAHEAD in Broad Channel

By Katie McFadden

Their trademark may be, “We’re number one at picking up number two,” but on Monday morning, the crew at CALLAHEAD in Broad Channel were busy picking up the scorched pieces of what was left from a devastating fire the night before.

At 6:53 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, a 911 call was received about a fire at CALLAHEAD, the portable toilet business based at 304 Cross Bay Blvd. That call came from local resident Kenny Good, who was taking his son to play football at the Broad Channel Athletic Club field across the street. “My son put his cleats on and gave me his sneakers to hold, so I went to put them in the car, and I saw smoke over there. I wasn’t sure if it was a fire or not. I thought maybe someone was barbecuing,” Good said.

As he got closer, Good saw the only things barbecuing were porta-potties at the site. As a former volunteer for the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department (BCVFD) during his days as co-owner of the Beach Club, Good knew he had to take action. He called 911 and as he was on the phone, he saw a garden hose out front. “It was right there. I guess they use it to hose off the bathrooms or something. It didn’t have that much pressure though,” Good said.

Good tried in vain to put out the blaze behind a security booth, but it quickly grew out of control as large flames and thick black smoke started to rise. “It went from almost nothing to a massive inferno in no time. The overhead wires looked like they were gonna catch on fire,” he said. Plus, the smell didn’t help. “It was bad. A lot of those porta-potties completely melted to zero,” he said. “I had to get the hell out of there.”

Fortunately, help arrived quickly. Twenty-five FDNY units with 106 fire and EMS personnel arrived on scene, as well as the BCVFD with other volunteer units on standby. Thick black smoke took over the scene and could be seen from as far as Manhattan during the two-alarm blaze. In the surrounding area, Cross Bay Boulevard, which was just milled and awaits repaving, was shut down to traffic in both directions as the firefighters worked. High winds also made the job more difficult, but firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading towards CALLAHEAD’s vehicles, towards the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge or towards neighboring homes. “If the fire department didn’t get there when they did, it would’ve been bad,” Good said. “It could’ve been a lot worse.” As he and his son couldn’t leave the BCAC due to the road being shut down, Good watched on and took videos from across the boulevard.

According to the FDNY press office, by 8:13 p.m., the fire was under control. One civilian suffered minor injuries and was taken to Jamaica Hospital. One firefighter also suffered from minor injuries and was taken to Nassau County Medical Center. As we go to press, the cause is still under investigation.

CALLAHEAD was closed when the fire broke out on Sunday. We reached out to CALLAHEAD for more information about the fire and how the business and its employees would be impacted, but we did not receive a response by press time. Owned by Charles Howard, CALLAHEAD opened in 1976 and will celebrate its 50th year next year. On Wednesday, crews were seen clearing out the scorched debris around the property. Everything from buildings to trailers to porta-potties were damaged or destroyed.

It’s not the first time CALLAHEAD has suffered a fire. In the early morning hours of February 25, 2009, a fire broke out at the site. Surveillance video later showed a masked man in a CALLAHEAD uniform setting fire to one of the trucks. It spread to six other trucks and took 60 firefighters to get it under control in an hour. That fire destroyed $250,000 worth of equipment, but it went unsolved, and no arrests were made.