‘SAVE US!’
Grandparents, ma of 2 killed in Queens blaze Horror hits house party full of wedding guests
Firefighters pull victim from house fire in Queens Village that killed Harleen (Manni) Maggo (inset, below) and her grandparents, who owned the home and were hosting relatives visiting for an upcoming wedding.
A QUEENS MOM and her grandparents died when a fastmoving blaze swept through their home as they celebrated a family member’s upcoming wedding.
A relative, Ranjit Kaur, 38, who was asleep in the basement of the Queens Village house, ran out a side door after her two teenage children smelled smoke and woke her up just before midnight Saturday.
Once she reached the sidewalk, she could hear the desperate cries of people still trapped inside.
“Save us! Save us! Save us!” her terrified relatives cried.
As she fled, Kaur saw “big red flames” shooting out from the second floor of the house on 211th St. near 93rd Ave.
Others in the house scrambled to get out, including at least one man who jumped from a secondfloor window, witnesses said.
Harleen (Manni) Maggo and her paternal grandparents, Ragvir Kaur-Kainth, 82, and Pyara Kainth, 87, died.
Maggo’s two children, an 8-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, were trapped inside the raging inferno.
Firefighters rescued both of them. The girl was in critical condition, and the boy was in stable condition at Nassau University Medical Center, fire officials said Sunday morning.
Seven other people inside the home were taken to hospitals with serious injuries that were not deemed life-threatening, said FDNY Deputy Chief Michael Gala.
Firefighters rescued 11 people from the blaze.
“It’s a big tragedy,” Kaur said. “I’ve never seen a big fire like this.”
Kaur said the home did not appear to have a working smoke detector.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Kaur said.
Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze and are still unsure where it started.
Maggo, who lives in Hollis, had just bought a house with her husband in Hicksville, L.I., said Kaur.
She was staying over with her grandparents as part of a family gathering to celebrate a cousin’s upcoming marriage, neighbors said. The wedding was scheduled for next weekend.
Before the fire struck, “Everyone was eating and partying,” Kaur said.
Param Singh, the dead woman’s brother, told reporters at the scene that she originally made it out of the home but went back inside with her uncle to try to save her grandparents.
Her children were doing a little better, with one still breathing with assistance Sunday afternoon, Singh said.
“You never think about this,” he said. “You never think this will
happen to you.”
Two men in their 50s in critical condition were rushed to Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica.
“They are basically all over the place,” Singh said, referring to his family and friends.
Maggo’s Facebook page is filled with smiling photos of her and the two children. She wears a sari with a bright pink overlay in her profile picture updated on April 1.
Maggo’s mother, Harpinder (Hari) Kainth, operated a beauty salon in the front of the home, according to Kaur.
Her father, Ranjit Kainth, who was believed to be home when the fire broke out, works for a caterer delivery service, neighbors said.
Their son was seen jumping from the home’s attic, according to Doreen Ramnauth, 70, a family friend who lives on the block. A neighbor passing by said he helped move him away from the flaming house.
Firefighters struggled with heavy smoke in the basement and fire on the main floor, the FDNY said.
“I cannot be prouder of the way our members operated, putting their lives in harm’s way to rescue trapped civilians, and unfortunately, while many lives were saved last night, we lost three people,” Gala said.
The family was always cautious about fire hazards, according to Kaur, who noted they recently installed an electric stove for safety.
“These homes have too much wood and they catch fire and they spread,” said state Assemblyman David Weprin, who visited the scene in his district.
“A lot of these homes don’t have smoke alarms,” he added. “We need to educate people about that. It’s a real tragedy.”
Ramnauth, who has known the family for years, struggled to deal with the news.
“There’s an emptiness I don’t think is going to go away,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to be the same here.”
The grandparents were affectionately known in the neighborhood as Papji and Beeji. The family was originally from Punjab, India.
Bravest rescue 11 at pre-wedding fete