An elderly Elmhurst man died after a fast-moving fire tore through his sixth floor apartment on the night of Sunday, Feb. 15.
The FDNY received a 911 call reporting a fire at 41-50 78th St. just before 7:20 p.m. and dispatched 21 units with 79 firefighters and EMS personnel to the street between Broadway and Woodside Avenue. The response was slowed by a vehicle blocking a fire hydrant at the scene and a second hydrant that was inoperative, officials said.
After firefighters extinguished the blaze just before 8 p.m., they discovered an 83-year-old man unconscious and unresponsive with severe injuries inside a bedroom. EMS rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead a short while later.
FDNY fire marshals are working to determine the cause of the blaze.
There have been no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing, an NYPD spokesman said Monday, adding that the identity of the deceased senior is pending proper family notification.
It was the second fatal fire in Elmhurst in less than a week after a mother and her newborn daughter perished in a suspected illegal basement apartment on Dongan Avenue on the night of Monday, Feb. 9. Miguelina Alcantara, 34, was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS after a 4-alarm fire destroyed three homes on the block. It would take two more days of relentless searching before the body of her 17-day old baby Emma was recovered from the rubble in the cellar.
