Midnight blaze at Queens home sends eight to the hospital

Four residents and four firefighters were injured in a midnight fire in a Woodside home that took two hours to tame early Friday morning.

The blaze broke out on the first floor of 64-11 35th Ave., around 12:12 a.m. on Friday, July 24, according to the FDNY. Four residents of the building were taken to local hospitals with life threatening injuries, the authorities said.

Four of the 60 firefighters and EMS personnel who responded to the blaze were injured and transported to area hospitals.

The FDNY got control of the fire around 2:02 a.m., the department said.

“We knew there were people trapped on the upper floor. When we arrived, Firefighter Long made his way up to begin his search. I heard him call it over the radio and as I heard that, I could see him through the smoke bringing someone out of a room,” said Lieutenant Glenn Fischer of Squad 288. “I guided him down the stairs to make sure that he and the person made it out of the building safely. This operation went smoothly. Our communication was great and all our companies did a great job. Four people came out of that fire thanks to our members.”

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“When we pulled up, there was heavy fire extending out of the windows. We made our way to the second floor to begin our search. Queens Fire Dispatch alerted us that people might be trapped up there, so we put that in our mind and when we made our way up, we were looking to help. We split up and began our search. During the search, Firefighter Antonio Tarabocchia, Firefighter Daniel Hickey, and Firefighter Richard Schmidt found three individuals. We all train for this and everyone operated correctly and performed their assigned duties. It was a great job finding all of those trapped people and removing them from danger. We all worked together and communicated well,” says FDNY Captain Patrick Burns, #Rescue4, who was one of the first due companies to arrive on scene of an all-hands fire in Queens earlier this morning. While rescue operations were underway, members of #Engine292 stretched the hose line to apply water to the fire where they also had to overcome an illegally parked vehicle obstructing the hydrant. Four people were rescued from the fire, including one who was rescued by Firefighter William Long, #Squad288. Lieutenant Glenn Fischer, Squad 288 says, “We knew there were people trapped on the upper floor. When we arrived, Firefighter Long made his way up to begin his search. I heard him call it over the radio and as I heard that, I could see him through the smoke bringing someone out of a room. I guided him down the stairs to make sure that he and the person made it out of the building safely. This operation went smoothly. Our communication was great and all our companies did a great job. Four people came out of that fire thanks to our members.” The patients were treated and transported to local hospitals with serious injuries by EMS members from FDNY #Station45 and #Station46, New York Presbyterian, Northwell LIJ – Forest Hills, and Wyckoff Hospital.

A post shared by FDNY (@fdny) on Jul 24, 2020 at 8:58am PDT