Bravest save 5 as house burns
THREE SISTERS rescued by firefighters were among five people injured by a fast-moving fire in their Queens home early Friday.
The blaze broke out on the first floor of the two-story home on 147th St. near Rockaway Blvd. in South Jamaica around 3:30 a.m., authorities said.
Neighbor Nicole Williams, 46, said the sisters’ mother and her eldest daughter, who sleep downstairs, were forced out of the house while the three sisters were trapped on the second floor.
One of the three sisters upstairs made it out — but then tried going back for the others.
When firefighters from nearby Engine Company 155 pulled up the fire was spreading rapidly to the second floor.
“When the firemen came they managed to break (the sisters) out. They were all breathing,” Williams said.
“The girls got in a bedroom and closed the door but they had no way down. The hallways and floor were all burning,” said FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph Cunningham.
“They were very fortunate to make it out.”
The five victims — a 16-yearold girl, a 54-year-old man, and three women, ages 23, 25 and 31 — are all related, sources said.
Medics rushed the 16-year-old girl to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell in critical condition with extensive burns. Two victims were taken to Jamaica Hospital and two to Nassau University Medical Center, all with minor injuries, officials said.
The fire destroyed the family’s home. In the aftermath, Williams said the mom of the four injured women was upset.
“She was saying, ‘Where am I going to live? Where am I going to go? I have nothing,’” Williams said.
“She’s a single mom who raised four girls by herself and she works very hard,” Williams said. “Her whole life is now gone. She put so much into her kids and now it’s gone.”