NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Three people are dead, including one child, after a fire in Queens engulfed a split commercial and residential building on Monday afternoon, according to the FDNY.
The fire broke out at the Flushing building, located at 44-49 College Point Blvd., at about 12:30 p.m., and quickly escalated to a 4-alarm situation.
“This is a difficult and tragic day,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said. “There were several victims of this fire, I can confirm for you at this point that there were three fatalities, and several very critical patients taken to the hospital.”
Bonsignore confirmed that one of those who died was a child. In addition to the fatalities, two other victims were transported to area hospitals in critical condition, and four others were stable.
EMS Chief Cesar Escobar said that five firefighters were also treated, and taken to area hospitals in stable condition.
According to Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods, when fire officials arrived on the scene, there was heavy fire on all three floors of the building.
While the fire company moved from the first floor to the second floor, Woods said that the stairs collapsed, leaving two firefighters trapped in the stairs. Further units arrived, and the help allowed responders to extricate those members.
Three civilians had jumped from the upper floors, and one person trapped on the second floor was rescued through the use of a portable ladder, Woods said.
When asked if the two people in critical condition had jumped from the building, the fire commissioner said: “We don’t know for sure, but we believe so.”
There is heavy damage to the building, but the fire is now contained. Woods said that Monday’s heavy winds definitely contributed to the fire’s severity and the FDNY response.
“The wind definitely impacts firefighter operations. The fire travels with the wind,” he said. “We trained for this, we know when it’s a heavy wind condition our dispatchers will actually give that over the air, so we have different tactics that we follow.”
The identity of the victims has not yet been released. The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.