Caught on Camera: Flames tear through Rockland County home

VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y. -- A Rockland County family will be forced to find a new home, after flames destroyed their house.

The fire Monday night ripped through the home in the hamlet of Valley Cottage, and the dramatic blaze was caught on cell phone video.

Neighbors on Quaspeck Boulevard reported hearing a loud noise and then seeing the flames.

The single-family home was fully engulfed when the patrol units responded.

The two occupants were able to exit the home without any injury.

They surveyed the damage Tuesday, but there wasn't much left, nothing to save. Bruce and Rose Pollack's home was leveled and destroyed by an explosion and fire.

It was a minivan that blew up. Miraculously the couple was inside the home and made it out unhurt.

"We're holding up. The house is a catastrophe, but we're fine, that's the good thing," said Bruce Pollack.

The cell phone video showed the intensity of the flames. The fire started around 6:30 when Bruce pulled up in the minivan, which was having mechanical problems.

He left the vehicle running with half of it outside of the garage so that fumes wouldn't build up, and went inside to make plans to have the car serviced.

But investigators believe the van was leaking gasoline. The explosion rocked the neighborhood.

"Within like 10-20 seconds, the house was engulfed in flames. I've never seen a fire that powerful," said neighbor Joe Cummings.

"I heard such a terrible, terrible bang. It scared the hell out of me," said another neighbor, Phyllis Ingrassia.

The siding on Ingrassia's house was melted by the intense heat, but firefighters were able to stop the ferocious flames from spreading.

"This was fully involved, there wasn't a part of the house that wasn't burning when we arrived," said Valley Cottage Fire Chief Howard Gerber.

Valley Cottage, Congers, West Nyack and New City fire departments responded to the scene and extinguished the fire in about an hour.

The home was a complete loss.

The Clarkstown Fire Inspector responded to the scene and determined that the fire did not appear to be suspicious.