By James DeWeese
Emily Borrero, a longtime resident of the four-story building on 18th Street, died Feb. 2 in the early-evening blaze, which residents said was the second in as many months inside the city-subsidized apartment she shared with her son and dog.Her son, Josh, 21, was not at home when the fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. After the fire, police took him to his father's house in Jamaica.Two firefighters suffered minor injuries and were treated at Mt. Sinai Hospital of Queens in Astoria but no one else was hurt, a Fire Department spokesman said.Firefighters discovered Borrero's body inside the bedroom of the cluttered third-floor apartment she had occupied for more than two decades, authorities and residents said. Officials said it appeared that the fire was caused by a lit cigarette.Building superintendent Kujtim Braka said he helped extinguish a smaller fire inside Borrero's apartment about two months ago.”I was fixing the lock (on another apartment) and I see the smoke,” Braka said of the earlier fire, which started around 10:30 p.m. “I was screaming for her to open the door.”Braka said Borrero, who was apparently severely ill, often created a nuisance inside the building, shouting at tenants in the stairwell, spitting on the floor and smoking inside the two-bedroom apartment he said was stacked waste-deep with old newspapers.”We feel sorry for her, but she was a danger to the place,” said Braka, 43.Angelo Lemodetis, who has owned the building for almost five years, said he contacted the city Department of Social Services, which was paying Borrero's rent, a year ago about having the woman moved into an assisted-living facility. Lemodites said Borrero, who was in and out of the hospital, was slated to move out by the end of February.As smoke filled the hallways, some residents were evacuated while others huddled by open windows awaiting the all-clear.”I just smelled smoke and people were screaming,” said Karen Petoske, 25, who moved into a fourth-floor apartment with her husband, Keith, and their 9-month-old daughter a couple of months ago. “I sat in my daughter's room with the window open.”The Fire Department received the call at 4:50 p.m. and the blaze was under control at 5:36 p.m., a spokesman said. Residents were allowed to return to their apartments by about 7 p.m.Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
