Queens house fire leaves 3 dead and several injured, including 4 firefighters
An early Easter morning house fire in Queens killed three people, and a fourth person is fighting for their life, the FDNY said Sunday.
Firefighters said the home at 87-25 Chevy Chase St., near Henley Road, in Jamaica Estates had multiple makeshift walls and exits were blocked, making the blaze all the more difficult to put out.
The FDNY said the call came in around 1:40 a.m. for a fire on the first floor that quickly spread to the second. The NYPD said three men in the home -- ages 45, 52 and 67 -- did not make it out alive.
"These were all living spaces. The means of egress were substandard -- exits blocked, stairways blocked," FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said. "There was a wall through the middle of the kitchen, which is very abnormal, and there's makeshift access to the second floor, which allows the fire to spread much quicker upstairs."
The FDNY said four firefighters and four civilians sustained minor injuries.
DOB tried to investigate illegal conversions
The Department of Buildings says since 2020 its received multiple complaints about illegal conversions inside the home, but four times inspectors tried to get in and could not.
A surviving occupant said the landlord charged around $400 per month for a bed, with a shared bathroom and kitchen. CBS News New York tried reaching the landlord, but was told he is in the hospital because of the fire.
The DOB said a violation was issued in 2010 for the basement being illegally converted into an apartment, and again in 2016 for work without a permit.
For now, the agency has issued a vacate order and the investigation is ongoing.
Neighbors described a tense situation
"We heard screaming also. I saw the shadow of one man trying to escape," neighbor Deo Karan said.
"One guy jumped and the second guy jump from the second floor," neighbor Sadhu Jaspel added. "One guy, he lose his spine."
"I was scared for them, too, because the fire was so strong. They was busting out the windows. It was a lot," neighbor Chanel Williams said.
One man is in the Intensive Care Unit, according to people who pray with him at a local mosque. They said he went back in to get his passport and fell.
"He took the smoke, a lot of smoke," friend MD Rahaman said.
"He's our friend. He was in Pakistan two months. He just come on Friday, I think," Shahen Abduallah said.
Another man said his brother, who is from Bangladesh, was one of the deceased.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said many tenants arrived to the country recently.
"This was a horrific scene. I spoke with some of the survivors this evening, many who have come to the USA searching for a better life," Richards said.
