When firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze that erupted last week aboard a houseboat docked in Port Washington that later spread to other vessels, George Martin and his wife Pia Haselbach lost everything – their home, possessions and four cats.
Now, the Lutheran church where the longtime Port Washington Chamber of Commerce member and his wife have done service work is helping out one of their own.
The Lutheran Church of Our Savior found temporary housing for the couple, wrote Bobbie Polay, the Port chamber’s executive director, in an e-mail to members.
It has also set up a fund in the couple’s name to help get Martin and Haselbach back on their feet.
Donations to Lutheran Church of Our Savior, located at 12 Franklin Ave., may be made and directed to Martin and Haselbach.
Efforts to reach the church or Martin, a former Port chamber board member who works at the Manhasset Bay shipyard, were unavailing.
It took firefighters from six departments more than an hour to put out the fire, which broke out around 2 a.m. last Monday at the Haven Marina off Matinecock Avenue in Manorhaven.
Four people were hospitalized as a result of the fire, which totaled one boat and heavily damaged two others.
