Three people were killed and another person is in critical condition after a raging two-alarm fire ripped through a home in Jamaica Estates early on Easter Sunday morning, FDNY officials said.
FDNY members raced to 87-25 Chevy Chase St. just after 1 a.m. on April 20 after being alerted that a fire had broken out inside a private home at the location.
About 100 firefighters arrived at the scene in less than four minutes to see flames and smoke fiercely blazing through the windows of the first level of the two-story house, before reaching the second floor and attic, FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said during a press conference following the tragedy.
Officials said the blaze was so intense that occupants had to jump out of the attic windows to escape the inferno.
But firefighters were still able to navigate the flames and pulled the remaining occupants out of the burning house.
“The fire did spread very quickly to the upper floors, and we very quickly also conducted searches and removed all the occupants and the victims,” Esposito said.
Firefighters were able to get the fire under control by 3 a.m. Sunday.
Three firefighters sustained minor injuries from the incident, Esposito said.
It is unclear right now how many people were living in the house. FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said there did not appear to be any working smoke detectors inside the home.
“We can’t stress this enough: It is critical for everyone to have a working smoke alarm, the house is loaded with extension cords,” he said. “This type of situation is tough on our firefighters and paramedics.”
‘Makeshift walls’ posed more challenges to rescue efforts
The ravaged house constructed “makeshift walls” inside where multiple families were living, which fire department officials said posed “substandard means of egress” that blocked both exits and stairways and created more dangerous conditions for firefighters and occupants.
“It makes it much more dangerous for our firefighters because when you arrive at a scene at a house like this, we make assumptions based on, what the law is and and and what we know the layout normally is,” Esposito explained. “And when we encounter walls, there was a wall through the middle of the kitchen, which is very abnormal.”
The address, meanwhile, has been slammed with multiple safety violations — including at least four illegal conversion notices — from the NYC Department of Buildings dating back as far as 2003. Some of those violations include the makeshift wall in the kitchen that posed a challenge for firefighters during the rescue mission.
One major violation was given to the homeowner on Oct. 13, 2015, for converting the one-family dwelling into a house occupied for five to six people.
The fire is the latest of three deadly blazes that plagued Queens over the Easter holiday weekend.
A three-alarm fire ravaged St. Edmund Church in Breezy Point on Saturday, just hours before Easter celebrations were to begin. No one was inside when the fire occurred.
And a fire ripped through Hatfield’s Bar, a beloved neighborhood pub in Bayside, early on Saturday morning. No injuries were reported.
The investigations into all three Queens fires remain ongoing.
