stacey sager is at the scene with the very latest. stacey. >> reporter: we are on east santa barbara road right where this fire started with a resident who lives right across the street from where it started, ron bologna. this was an awful scene throughout the afternoon. it is getting better now but quite a scene, right? >> it has been a hectic situation here. the fire started across the street and then the wind was changing directions and hot spots were going all over, causing fires in other people's yards and so forth. >> reporter: and people were on their roofs hosing down the roof? against the fire department because they are wasting the water where the fire department is lacking water. >> reporter: i want to give people perspective. bring the camera over here. this is the first house that burned, right? >> one directly across, that's -- >> reporter: there was a family inside at the time? >> yes, there was and they tried fighting it until the fire department arrived. they did have somebody call up and call the fire department while

we're live in copiague, stacey sager, eyewitness news. >> you have to feel for all those folks in that area. these are pictures and video that was sent in by our viewers. take a look. that's the scene. shows you how intense those flames were. some people taking those photos say you could actually feel the intense heat from where they were standing. and there you see video of the flames in that area as well. we want to bring in meteorologist lee goldberg right now because certainly dry conditions playing a role, and the wind as well, right, lee? >> when stacy described that it was swirling, i could tell why 3:30 from a wind going onshore to offshore. the winds weren't that strong but they were swirling in many directions. the wind doesn't scream out fire risk today. in fact, long island was not under a fire weather warning that originated with the house fire. if you notice, initially the plume of smoke is dragged out 30 miles in the atlantic. but in the last half hour to hour of the fire, you can see we started to see smoke carry toward babylon and baywood. it's shifted from a land bree

eyewitness news reporter stacey sager talked with his grieving family. she joins us now from union dale. >> he was on the road to recovery. this was supposed to be a routine ambulance trip. sadly, it wasn't, and now two families are grieving. >> he was a great guy, great brother. he was a great role model. great father. was finally recovering from an awful ordeal. the 36-year-old from elmont struggling through two heart transplants and a kidney transplant. this was supposed to be the easy part. a routine ambulance transport yesterday because larson was leaving the hospital for the first time in 15 months and headed to a rehab center here in uniondale to finish his recovery. >> he was fine. he was great. he was off the oxygen and eating solids and eating again and he was ready to go home. >> reporter: the ambulance inexplicably slammed in to a stone overpass on the eastbound side of the southern state parkway here in lake view. police say there appears to be no criminality but an autopsy is being done on the ambulance driver who was also killed. queens. h

i'm stacey sager channel 7 eyewitness news. >> stacey, thank you. we have one more note about bernie sanders who will leave the campaign trail on april 14 to speak at a conference of the vatican. and on social economic environmental issues. would like to meet them during that visit. at this point he has not received that invitation from the catholic leader. >>> as for the republican, they would campaign in that tristate today as he is in syracuse this evening. donald trump was a solid lead in the polls to hold those campaign events here this weekend. that he will be intensifying their efforts. including a trip to california that would focus here in new york and that they received a chilly response here earlier this week as they will be planning to visit them next week. they have it planned on monday. >>> the primary is just 11 days away as we invite you to stay with eyewitness news and abc news for complete coverage. lower manhattan, they were lost in new york and they are sleeping overnight. he woke up to the robber with the knife as the attacker i

. >> eyewitness news reporter stacey sager is in lower manhattan with more. >> this family was handed the wrong ashes not once but twice. this after their mother was cremated by mistake. now we just got done talking with this family and their lawyer. he said this case is one in many and these stories are >> reporter: so devastating, it's hard to believe. emilio says his 66-year-old mother, conswalea rivera, died last month in new jersey. because of a mixup involving three funeral homes, her family still has no idea where her remains are. >> we can't even take her home because we don't know where she is. >> they stole that from us. stole my last kiss, my last goodbye. >> reporter: according to a lawsuit naming all three funeral homes, rivera's family at first planned to use this one but then changed their minds and moved it to ortiz funeral home. they were to transport her body, only the unthinkable happened. >> they said they cremated her. >> yes. by accident. >> reporter: first avenue had no comment today but the owner us, quote, they made a mistake whatever they did. the body was ne

i'm stacey sager, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> we have not heard the last of the issue. thank you. >>> and two special elections are held in the state. they will select new state representatives to replace disgraced former senate major ity leader and councilmember, both facing year ises in principle for corruption. again, polls close tonight at 9:00 and as the results come in, we'll bring you updates all night and on air and online. >>> and as we continue on this tuesday night, an art museum faces a fine for displaying a piece of art. so does it really review too much? >> and two brush fires in new jersey sending heavy smoke over the hudson river and new york city skyline. >>> when you have humidity at the north and take the warmer temperatures, the fire danger is high with no vegetation. much-needed rain in this one goes out to all the allergy muddlers. you know who you are. your family outing is magical for all the wrong reasons. and your sneezes are a force to be reckoned with. well, allergy muddlers, muddle no more . try zyrtec for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec

we're live in copiague, stacey sager, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> breaking news now involving another fire, this time in queens. a fire in the power generation plant at roxedale village. this is in jamaica. the fire is out but firefighters going through the 121 elevators of the complex looking for them. operators say they expect to have the power restored by night fall. >>> we're learning new details in the arrest of a suspect known as the ninja burglar. guilty tomorrow. he's suspected in more than 150 burglaries in our area that spanned a decade and stole more than $4 million in goods. eyewitness news reporter darla miles is in the st. george section of staten island with the story. >> because of the statute of limitations and in part because to be entered here tomorrow at the staten island courthouse, prosecutors say they only plan to charge robert costanzo with three counts of burglary in the second degree. in all of these cases, the most infamous ninja burglar sighting, they say they can't even connect him to that one. >> the particular case you mentioned where there was a victim

we're live in lower manhattan, stacey sager, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> there's still much more ahead. >> eyewitness news at 6:00 starts right now. >>> police tonight are searching for the driver who killed a man in queens, ran him down, then never stopped. >> and suddenly, new york voters are a hot commodity. the presidential candidates invade new york from riding a subway to touring a bakery and a deli. a busy day for candidates in new york as the rhetoric heats up 12 days before the suddenly >> good evening at 6:00. i'm liz cho. >> and i'm bill ritter. more on those stories in a moment. first a scandal and shakeup at the nypd. >> four high ranking officers have been reassigned as the fbi widens its corruption investigation. at issue, did officers do special favors for the orthodox jewish community in exchange for gifts? >> eyewitness news reporter n.j. tonight. >> this case is all about favors, special treatment. funeral. of course police officers are expected to protect and serve the community but federal agents want to know did these officials go too far? >> this is not a particu

stacey sager in patchogue with >> if republicans wanted some buzz over this fundraiser, they're sure to get it here in patchogue. it just may not be the kind of buzz they were looking for. it's because immigration activists are furious that donald trump was invited to this venue to speak tomorrow evening for protests. >> reporter: it's all about location and this location here in patchogue, they say, is all wrong for donald trump. shouting the names of immigrants who they say were beaten back in 2008 and remembering ecuadorian immigrant, lucero, murdered in a hate crime back then just three blocks away. they're calling on the republican party here in suffolk county to show more sensitivity and cancel trump's scheduled speech tomorrow evening. >> this is not a reality show. these are real people, human beings with flesh and blood. >> reporter: the chair of the republican party says trump is entitled to free speech that he supports their frontrunner. >> donald trump isn't anti-immigrant. he's anti-illegal immigration. if individuals aren't happy about that or they want to protest that,

eyewitness news reporter stacey sager up in the newsroom. the stakes here are enormous financially and politically. >> the stakes are enormously high. for the candidates and for wall street. but most importantly for the economy. there are nuances between hillary clinton and bernie sanders on this. how much it will matter to new york voters remains to be seen. >> reporter: he'd like to break up the big banks. she'd like to make wall street work for main street. what we know here in new york is with one more week till the primary, expect each candidate's that means hearing the name goldman sachs once again in this bernie sanders ad. sanders challenging hillary again and again to release the transcripts of her paid speeches for the investment bank. >> i will release all of my transcripts. which is not difficult for me to do because there are no transcripts. >> from the clinton campaign, a stronger effort to push back. >> i believe there's a concerted effort to tear me down, attack me, criticize me, and there certainly has been a double standard

live in medford, stacey sager, channel 7 eyewitness news. safe. thank you, stacey. >>> breaking news happening in ohio. seven people are dead after a series of shootings. right now the gunman is still on the loose. police believe there were at least three different crime scenes all of them in pike county which is an area south of columbus, ohio, some children we are told are among the victims. the shooting happened in peoples, a small town in that rural county. a local high school is locked down and, of course, as soon as we get new information on the shooting, we will bring it to you. >>> we will turn now to the loss of a music icon. an autopsy is scheduled today for prince after he was found this as so many questions surround his death. the tributes continue to pour in as fans remember the artist and share the love of his music and talent. abc's marci gonzales is outside his music studio with more reaction. diana. police will be giving an update this afternoon. officers are still working on the other side of this fence growing. people are leaving

in medford i'm stacey sager channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> they might have hit a roadblock coming up on eyewitness news, how the port authority could become the reason that the agreement falls through. >>> and also the owner taking on the wood-be robbers. we are hearing from the >>> and not only is it warm out there, the temperatures in the upper 70s with enough humidity to spark a couple showers and a couple of thunderstorms right through the it seems like a cold at first. you can't concentrate, can't sleep. before long it's all you can think about. you feel anxious and uncertain. until one day you realize, this could be it. you've quit smoking for good. a little suffering now can save a lot of suffering later. stop before the real suffering starts. you can quit smoking. en >>> the city's tentative deal has hit a roadblock. they have raised concerns about the provision where uber will pay the city $1 million a year for the right to operate at the airport. most of the airport is is within the new york city limits and the port authority leases the land from the city. >> and seven peop