Early morning house fire kills three in Queens

Three people died in an early-morning inferno inside a Queens home regularly cited by the city for illegally packing in tenants.

Flames were so intense at least one person jumped from the third floor to escape, officials said.

Two of those killed Saturday could be seen struggling to escape, and may have been unable to get out because a door leading to a second-floor terrace was kept locked, sources and a witness told The Post.

“I watched two guys die in front of me because I saw the smoke just surround them and suffocate them,” a first floor-resident said.

Firefighters later slid a victim’s body out of a third-floor window of the three-story brick home, lowering it to the ground in a ladder truck.

Onlookers could hear anguished cries.

One “guy was screaming, ‘Help, help,’ but there was nothing I could do. There was too much fire,” said an occupant of the home’s second floor who gave his name as Samir.

He said two of the dead were immigrants, one from Guyana and one from Morocco.
One man who left the building a year ago said current occupants didn’t have keys to doors on the second floor.

“The windows on the balcony, they are sliding doors, and one of the guys who died last night, I knew him. He lived right next to the window, but the previous owner never gave them the key to the sliding door,” said former resident Gustavo Escubero, 45.

He claimed he was the former super for the building and once lived there among 30 others.

The 5:37 a.m. blaze at 90-31 48th Ave. left four others, including two firefighters, with minor injuries, officials said. One firefighter fell through a floor, but was ultimately able to get to safety.

FDNY Chief Thomas Richardson said there were reports of eight people living in the house, which was badly damaged.

“The entire roof collapsed into the third floor,” Richardson said.

Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the blaze.

“The flames were crazy. They were shooting out from the windows and shooting out the back of the house. It eventually broke through the roof,” said Fernando Andujar, 37, who lives across the street. “It spread to the home next door. It was bad. It was a really big inferno.”

Andujar said the new owner of the house had been trying to sell it.

“But he was having a hard time getting rid of the squatters living there,” he said.

“Because of the squatters he was getting frustrated and wanted to sell the house. He didn’t want to be bothered with the whole thing.”

Complaints about the illegal conversion of the home into smaller rental units date to 2001, shortly after it was purchased by the Mahmood family, city records show.

The DOB issued a partial vacate order in February 2018 because the basement was illegally converted into six living units.

The owner failed to address those violations, and the city issued more than $217,000 in penalties, the DOB said.

In January 2020, a prospective tenant claimed there were more than 60 people living in the house, according to a complaint to the city Department of Buildings.

“I also witnessed people using drugs and the whole house smell of marijuana,” the complaint says.

A DOB inspector was denied access to the house in February, and no one answered the door in May, the Buildings Department said.

The home went into foreclosure and was sold in February 2020 to an LLC for $1.2 million, city records show. The current owner could not be reached for comment.

Escubero said he moved out when the new owners cut the heat and hot water off last winter. He said the utilities were restored over the summer when the remaining occupants — who were not paying rent — complained to 311.

Misbaah Mahmood said his family sold the home, which had been owned by his elderly mother, Munawwara, but he claimed to not know the current owner.

Of the apparently locked balcony door, he said, “It doesn’t matter who locked it because when the new owner came, they have to check everything. I don’t remember anything now.”

The FDNY said it would investigate whether the doors were locked as part of its probe.
DOB inspectors were also on the scene Saturday assessing the stability of the damaged house, as well as two neighboring buildings.

“Illegal conversions pose a severe fire hazard to not only building occupants, but neighbors and first responders as well, which is why we previously issued a Vacate Order for the cellar of this building and issued punitive violations to the landlord. Our inspectors remain on scene, conducting a full investigation into this tragic fire,” said DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky.