Huge Neighborhood Fire In Queens Injures 14 People – Cause Of Fire Still Unknown

Daily Report August 04,2024

A massive fire tore through the heart of Queens Saturday afternoon, injuring 14 people including 11 firefighters and displacing dozens when it spread to three buildings in Jackson Heights.

The residence, a two-story building at 88-21 Francis Lewis BoulevardQueens Village was on fire shortly after 4:00 p.m. Within 45 minutes it was upgraded to a five-alarm fire and had spread across seven buildings, according to FDNY officials.

“This was a very fierce fire, and it spread to seven buildings and into the rear and garage area,” FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer said.

The more than 200 firefighters, EMTs and paramedics who responded to the scene had brought the fire under control within roughly two hours.

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The majority of injuries were associated with heat and resulting transports to nearby hospitals for treatment.

The intense blaze also damaged homes on 207th St. behind Francis Lewis Boulevard.

Speaking from his family’s home in Francis Lewis Boulevard, neighbor Tasmim Abib said the fire began on a deck of their next-door neighbors’ house and then caught on to theirs.

“It was so much fire that it got into our house,” he said, explaining how the blaze entered their living room before spreading and filling their home with thick black smoke.

Abib said he ran from his house with two of his family’s five cats, but didn’t get a chance to go back and save the rest.

“I was crying, ‘Let me go inside and save my cats.’ They said, ‘No, don’t go back inside,’” he recalled.

“There is nothing left there. Everything is gone in the fire.”

The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing according to FDNY officials.