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Port Washington Fire Damages Houseboats, Injures 3

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A fire tore through two houseboats at a marina in Long Island early Monday, sending three people to the hospital.

As CBS2's Ilana Gold reported, fast-moving flames woke up the neighbors at the Haven Marina in Port Washington just before 3 a.m. Monday. The neighbors started recording the fiery scene.

"We went outside, and we saw smoke coming out of my neighbor's house," a neighbor told CBS2's Gold. "My friend called 911, I grabbed the fire extinguisher off the dock and we tried to stop it but eventually it just got too out of hand."

"I walked out. The boat on the end was totally engulfed in flames," another neighbor said.

The flames leveled a houseboat, then charred another behind it and destroyed a smaller boat docked nearby, Gold reported.

"It's very heartbreaking," said fire victim Jennifer Baptiste. "I think I'm in a state of shock."

Baptiste happened to be away when the fire spread to her houseboat. Hours later, she was looking at the gutted houseboat in disbelief.

She has just fixed up her houseboat after major damage from Superstorm Sandy, and had been expecting to move back in this summer.

"I was looking forward to, believe it or not, moving in around Memorial Day or in June," Baptiste said.

Her neighbors, a husband and wife in their 60s, had nothing left. The fire leveled their houseboat and a smaller boat that knocked nearby, but that was not all.

"Unfortunately, they lost their cats," Baptiste said. "They had three cats that went further into the home."

The couple was hospitalized and was being treated for smoke inhalation. The smoke from the fire was so intense that firefighters say it spread to the next marina, where another homeowner got sick, Gold reported.

"It's tragic," said neighbor Tony Leon. "I feel bad."

Firefighters spent hours dousing the flames in treacherous conditions.

"The whole dock was a sheet of ice. The parking lot was a sheet of ice," said Assistant Fire Chief Brian Waterson. "We were sliding all over the place."

Fire officials late Monday were digging through the rubble to determine what caused the fire.

"You don't realize how fragile your situation is," Leon said.

But Baptiste said she has plans to rebuild and move forward after the fire.

"Come back in June and see where I am then," Baptiste said.

Baptiste said her neighbors did not have insurance. Investigators as of late Monday afternoon still did not know the cause of the fire.

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