House Fire Kills 5, Including 3 Children, in Queens

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/nyregion/house-fire-kills-5-including-3-children-in-queens.html

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Five people, three of them children, were killed in a fire that roared through a house in Queens on Sunday afternoon, New York City officials said.

The dead included two boys, 2 and 9; a girl, 14; a woman, 20; and a man, 45, the officials said. All five lived in the home, on 208th Street in Queens Village.

“It’s a terrible, tragic loss,” said Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro, who spoke at a news conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio near the burned-out house.

Mr. Nigro said that a person driving by the house saw flames rising from the first floor to the second and called 911 at 2:36 p.m. He said that firefighters arrived four minutes later and found the house consumed by fire.

“These homes were built 97 years ago,” Mr. Nigro said. “They’re wood-frame homes, and they burn rapidly.”

He said the cause of the fire was being investigated.

Mr. de Blasio, who had spoken at a church in nearby Jamaica, Queens, earlier in the day, said, “What we do know is five lives are lost, three of them children, an extraordinarily large toll for any fire.”

A Fire Department official said it was highly unusual for so many people to die in a fire in the middle of the day, when people are typically awake and able to escape.

Mr. Nigro said firefighters had found the 2-year-old boy in the attic of the home, where he had been trapped, perhaps with another person. In all, firefighters found five people inside, and all of them died.

Mr. Nigro said a middle-aged man had leapt or fallen from a second-story window. He said the man had survived and had been hospitalized in satisfactory condition.

It was not immediately clear how the victims were related to one another.

Foster McPhee, 67, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was driving by when he saw smoke and flames pouring from the house and pulled over.

“The next thing I know, the firefighter’s coming out carrying a baby, and the baby was badly burned,” Mr. McPhee said.

He said firefighters also brought out what he thought were a young man and a woman. “I couldn’t really tell — they were burned so badly,” he said. “It was just horrible to see.”

The house was left a charred hull by the flames, which burned away much of its cream-colored siding. The fire also damaged one of the houses next door, Mr. Nigro said. The street, lined with small houses, most of them three stories tall, was cordoned off on Sunday evening, when the area was still crowded with firefighters and emergency workers.

It was an emotional scene as women cried and embraced in a yard across the street, beyond the police tape. Down the block, another man gently sobbed on the sidewalk. A woman ran up to the police tape, jumping and screaming, overcome with emotion. “Why would God let this happen?” she cried, repeating it over and over again.

“It’s not fair!” she said as others sought to console her. “We’re a God-fearing family. It ain’t right.”

The scene drew a crowd of neighbors, who stood along the police lines on a chilly, overcast evening. Some had known the family. “They’re very nice people,” said Gary Rhodes, who lives about a block away. “It hurts. It’s sad, man.”

Others came because they were troubled by what had happened. “I’m feeling hurt,” said Dorothy Bush, who also lives nearby. She said that she was a minister and that she would pray for the victims. “I feel pain,” she said. “It’s a tragedy.”

Neighbors said the man who escaped the fire was a mechanic who would often help local residents with their cars.

“It’s devastating,” said Emma Garlington, who has lived in a home across the street for 40 years. “We’ve never had anything this bad happen before.”

She said she had seen the children playing outside earlier in the day.

David Buchanan lives next door to the home that burned, and his house was also badly damaged.

“It’s unlivable,” he said. “No windows. No doors. Water everywhere. All my clothes are ruined.”

He said that he had been at church when the fire occurred and that three of his children, two adults and one teenager, had been home at the time. He said that he had lived there about 10 years but that he did not know his neighbors.

“I’ve got family, and I’m grateful none of my family got hurt,” Mr. Buchanan said, but he added, “I’m sad the neighbors passed away.”

City records showed that the white clapboard house where the fire occurred was owned by Dajuana T. Green, 45.

At least two of those who died were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. As relatives or others close to the family arrived, one young man in the group fell to his knees and had to be helped up as he screamed: “Why? Why?”