A 1-year-old boy was killed in a fire that erupted inside the attic of an illegally converted Queens home on Sunday night, according to authorities.
Little Jason Eli was rushed to the children’s hospital at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead some 40 minutes after flames began tearing through the home around 11 p.m., the NYPD said.
His heartbroken grandmother, Joyann Lewis Kelly, told WABC that the baby’s mother had heroically pulled her oldest son from the raging fire, but couldn’t pass the wall of flames to save the younger boy.
Police are seen at the scene of a fatal 3 alarm fire at 144-12 106 Ave. in Jamaica, Queens, on May 15, 2023. Robert Mecea
Police said a 1-year-old child was rushed to the children’s hospital at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, but was pronounced dead. Robert Mecea“It was too much smoke, it was too much,” Lewis Kelly said.
Video from the scene showed FDNY firefighters using a truck ladder to put out flames in a room on the top level of the two-story house on 106th Avenue in Jamaica.
No one else was reported injured, but there were reports of people trapped as the FDNY rushed to the scene.
The 3-alarm fire took place at 144-12 106 St. , where initial 911 calls indicated children were trapped in the attic. LoudlabsNYCIt’s unknown how many people were inside the home at the time of the fire.
The blaze was placed under control just before midnight.
An investigation into the fire is ongoing, including the cause, police said.
Inspectors from the city’s Department of Buildings found “significant fire damage in the attic, with charred rafters, holes in the roof, and holes in the ceiling below the attic,” officials said.
Smoke can be seen coming from the house fire at 144-12 106 Ave. in Jamaica, Queens, on May 15, 2023. LoudlabsNYCThe single-family house had been illegally divided up into a multi-dwelling, the DOB said.
The property owner was slapped with five violations, one for each of the illegal single-room occupancy units found in the building, officials said. A full vacate order was also issued on the property, according to the DOB.
The department said it had not received any complaints about the property prior to the fire.
This is the second time in as many months a child has died in a Queens fire.
Last month a 7-year-old, as well as a teenager, were killed in an Astoria fire that was sparked by the battery to an e-bike, officials said at the time.
