A deadly house fire that devastated a family in East Elmhurst late Wednesday has been ruled a homicide after an investigation by not only fire marshals, but detectives who swarmed the scene after FDNY knock down the flames.
FDNY pulled five victims from second floor of a two-family home at 23-49 93rd St. where they pronounced a 23-year-old male and six-year-old female dead at the scene.
A man of 76 was also retrieved but later died in the hospital, and as it stands, the only injured individuals to survive were a 35-year-old female and 10-month-old male who were transported to Cornell Hospital. An FDNY official told QNS the baby was in “very critical condition.”
With the fire starting around 4 p.m., the scene quickly evolved from being dominated by firefighters to being handed over to NYPD by around 7 p.m. Crime scene vans from the Detective’s Bureau were present with investigators taking neighbors aside to speak with them privately.
The family was left to grieve in the street while NYPD conducted their investigation throughout much of the night.
One man who went by the name Victor said he is friends with a man of about 40 who lives on the first floor with his 10-year-old daughter. While Victor was out at the time and did not see the fire break out, he expressed concern for his friend was not answering his phone.
FDNY said the fire only effected the first floor.
NYPD has not released the names of the victims citing proper family notification was still necessary as of Thursday morning and did not directly attribute the cause of the fire to arson.
As of 1:30 p.m., July 11, FDNY still has not announced the cause of fire and a spokesman said they are still investigating.
NYPD said the investigation is ongoing with no arrests at this time.
