A significant fire tore through a block of wooden apartment buildings in Queens, New York City, on Saturday morning, injuring nearly two dozen people and trapping at least one resident.
The blaze erupted just before 10 a.m. in a two-story wooden building and quickly spread to a row of five structures. The fire triggered a five-alarm response, drawing hundreds of firefighters and emergency personnel to the scene. Upon arrival, firefighters found two buildings already engulfed in flames and a resident trapped on the second floor of the first building.
Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods stated that over 250 firefighters and emergency personnel responded to the incident. Firefighters were able to reach the trapped resident from above the flames and rescue them. In total, at least 21 injuries were reported, including 17 firefighters, two members of the FDNY's Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), and two building residents.
Woods described the buildings as being constructed primarily of wood, dating back to 1930. "These buildings in this row of five ... they were built in 1930, so they're all wood. Wood-frame buildings," he told reporters. "The walls are wood, the floors are wood, the roof is also made of wood, so fire travels very, very rapidly. Very difficult for us to get ahead of these fires and extinguish."
Fire officials employed multiple hand lines in an aggressive effort to control the rapidly spreading flames. The intensity of the fire necessitated a large-scale, multi-alarm response to contain it and prevent further destruction.
