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‘Very fierce fire’ in NYC spreads to 7 buildings, injures 14 and displaces multiple residents: ‘There is nothing left’
A massive fire reportedly injured 14 people, damaged several buildings and left multiple residents displaced in Queens on Saturday afternoon, August 3.
A massive fire reportedly damaged several buildings and left multiple residents displaced in Queens on Saturday afternoon, August 3. As many as 14 people were injured, New York post reported.
The fire began at a two-story residence at 88-21 Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens Village just after 4 pm. It rapidly soared to five alarms and spread to as many as seven buildings, FDNY officials said.
EMTs, paramedics and more than 200 firefighters responded to the blaze. They manage to bring it under control in about two hours. “This was a very fierce fire, and it spread to seven buildings and into the rear and garage area,” FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer said.
Eleven firefighters and three civilians were among the injured. FDNY EMS Deputy Assistant Chief Grace Cacciola confirmed that all of them sustained minor injuries. Most of them sustained heat-related injuries and were rushed to hospitals.
Dozens of people are believed to have been displaced, Frederic Klein, a spokesman with the Red Cross, confirmed. The Red Cross helped victims on the scene.
At least three vehicles were charred in an alley behind Francis Lewis Boulevard, where cars had been parked by residents. Houses on 207th Street were also damaged by the blaze.
‘Everything is gone in the fire’
Tasmim Abib, 17, who lives on Francis Lewis Boulevard, said the fire spread to his family’s deck and into their home after starting on his neighbour’s deck. “It was so much fire that it got into our house,” he said.
Abib said that when the fire entered his home, he rushed out with his parents and two of five cats. He said his terrified parents did not let him go back inside to rescue his other cats. “I was crying, ‘Let me go inside and save my cats.’ They said, ‘No, don’t go back inside,'” Abib said. “There is nothing left there. Everything is gone in the fire.”
Abib recalled that his mother went outside and found there was a fire after hearing three explosions. FDNY officials said that the fire had been accelerated by propane tanks that exploded in the back of the initial site of the blaze. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
