Fire swept through a house rented to a family of five from Maryland at 3 Spring Lane in Noyac early Wednesday, August 3, killing two daughters.
Southampton Town Police said Jillian Wiener, 21, and Lindsay Wiener, 19, of Potomac, Maryland, died in the late-night fire. Their parents, Lewis Wiener, 60, and Alisa Wiener, 52, and brother, Zachary Wiener, 23, were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said the fire was reported at 3:35 a.m. Officers who arrived at the scene found the house engulfed in fire.
Police said the parents were sleeping on the first floor and the children on the second floor. They said Lewis Wiener awoke to the sound of glass breaking and alerted the family.
He and his wife escaped, but police said when they realized their children were still in the house, he tried to go back in, but was driven back by flames.
Zachary Wiener escaped out of a second-floor window, but his sisters were trapped inside, according to police.
Firefighters found the two victims, and they were taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where they died. The three other victims were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital, police said.
The Sag Harbor Fire Department and Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to the fire. Additional aid was provided by the Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Southampton, North Sea and Amagansett fire departments, which sent personnel and equipment to the scene or stood by at neighboring firehouses. A Suffolk County medevac helicopter also was on standby.
According to Southampton Town records, the house is owned by Peter and Pamela Miller. On Wednesday morning, the owners of the home stood on the street outside. Pamela Miller rested her head on her arms on the hood of a pickup truck, while her husband was on the phone.
Southampton Town Police officers and fire marshals were at the scene, beginning their investigation. The Suffolk County arson squad was also at the scene, which is standard practice when there is a fatal fire.
From Spring Lane, the two-story saltbox house looked to be intact, although some windows on the first and second floor were broken and a ground-level garage door appeared to have been pulled off its hinges.