A Rockaway Park woman was killed when a kitchen fire spread through a bungalow on Beach 109th Street on Monday afternoon.
The FDNY received a call of a blaze at 175A Beach 109th Street near Betty Court just before 3:30 p.m. The house fire was brought under control in less than half an hour, but firefighters found a 61-year-old woman unconscious and unresponsive. EMS pronounced her dead at the scene.
FDNY fire marshals are investigating and will determine the cause of the blaze. Inspectors from the city Department of Buildings observed non-structural damage to the dwelling’s kitchen area.
“What happened on Beach 109th Street on Monday was truly a tragedy,” Council Member Joann Ariola told QNS on Tuesday. “Despite the heroic efforts of the FDNY, a life was lost. An investigation is currently underway to determine exactly what happened that led to this horrible incident. May the victim of this catastrophe rest in peace.”
She was later identified as Maryann Traynor by her stepdaughter and a family friend from Howard Beach, who set up a GoFundMe account to help her husband pay for her burial.
Jack Traynor, 84, arrived home from work just after the fire was extinguished and was stunned to see the FDNY and NYPD on the street in front of his bungalow. The couple had been married for 17 years and he was just weeks away from retirement.
“Not a day has gone by that he didn’t mention his loving wife Mary,” Lisa Colangelo wrote on the GoFundMe page. “He loved her immensely, and now his entire world is shattered.”
