One person died and two others, including an infant, were seriously injured Wednesday when a blaze ripped through a Queens home and spread to two others, an FDNY spokesman said.
The smoky fire broke out shortly before 1:35 p.m. at a two-and-a-half-story Jamaica home on 158th Street near Meyer Avenue, the spokesman said.
Firefighters responded minutes later to find “a heavy fire condition — the fire was already extending to buildings on both sides,” Deputy Assistant Chief Michael Gala said at the scene. “This was a very arduous operation.”
FDNYThe flames escalated to a fourth alarm, bringing in more than 165 firefighters and paramedics.
“Early in the operation, one of our firefighters from Ladder 126 put a portable ladder up to a rear window and removed a woman from the bathroom on the top floor,” Gala continued. “The woman was brought out in critical condition, in cardiac arrest.”
The 30-year-old was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, but could not be saved.
Two others — including a 5-month-old baby — were taken to the hospital with serious, non-life threatening injuries, the spokesman said.
The fire was placed under control nearly an hour and 45 minutes after it started. The cause is still under investigation.
