An elderly disabled man and his wife who were preparing to retire to Florida died in a horrific electrical fire that swept through their Queens home early yesterday.
Joseph Ghent, 68, and his wife, Gloria, 61, had recently bought a home in Orlando and were looking forward to moving there when the blaze broke out in a basement wall of their Far Rockaway home, then spread upstairs just after 3 a.m.
“It was crazy – it looked like a volcano exploded,” shuddered Ephraim McClean, 28, who lives next door.
“A neighbor saw the fire before it started to spread, but it was too hot to even knock on the door.”
The childless couple, married 45 years, came to New York from Guyana in 1977 and worked hard to achieve a good life.
Joseph worked for Chemical Bank until he was laid off several years ago, and Gloria sang in the choir of her Brooklyn church, Good Tidings Gospel Hall, where she helped raise funds for Caribbean missionaries.