A massive fire tore through Queens on Saturday afternoon, injuring 14 people, including 11 firefighters, and damaging several buildings and displacing dozens of residents, authorities said.
The blaze began shortly after 4 p.m. at a two-story residence at 88-21 Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens Village, before escalating to a five-alarm fire and spreading to seven buildings, according to New York City Fire Department (FDNY) officials.
About 200 firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics responded to the fire, which was contained within two hours, officials said.
“It was a very ferocious fire and it spread to seven buildings, the back and the garage,” said FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer.
The injured included 11 firefighters and three Queens residents, said Grace Cacciola, deputy assistant director of FDNY EMS.
Most suffered heat-related injuries and were taken to local hospitals for medical care.
Dozens of people are believed to have been displaced, said Red Cross spokesman Frederic Klein, who assisted victims at the scene, the New York Post reported.
The Red Cross said it had registered seven households, comprising 22 adults and 10 children, for emergency assistance, including temporary shelter and financial assistance.
Homes behind Francis Lewis Boulevard, where residents parked their vehicles, were damaged by the devastating fire.
Tasmim Abib, 17, who lives on Francis Lewis Boulevard, said the fire started on her neighbor’s porch before spreading to her family’s porch and into her home.
“The fire was so intense that it reached our house,” he said, adding that the blaze entered the living room before spreading and filling his home with thick black smoke.
The girl said she fled her home with two of her five cats and her parents, who refused to let her return home to rescue the beloved felines she had left behind.
“I cried and said, ‘Let me go in and save my cats.’ They said, ‘No, don’t come back in,’” she recalled. “There’s nothing left there. Everything was lost in the fire.”
Abib said his mother heard three explosions before going outside to watch the flames spread.
Propane tanks exploded at the rear of the fire site, further accelerating the blaze, the FDNY said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the FDNY.
Keep reading:
California man charged with causing largest wildfire in US
California struggles to contain wildfire as it spreads to other counties
Stolen car burst into flames after crash near Wall St in New York: video