A man and a woman were died Saturday morning when a fire blasted through a Queens garage, according to police and firefighters.
Sixty firefighters responded to the “cluttered” two-story garage behind a private residence on 91st Ave. near 175th St. in Jamaica after receiving a complaint about 6:35 a.m., officials said.
“I was asleep, and then I awoke. I heard someone yell, ‘Get out!’ “Get out!” Faim Shorom, 28, a second-floor resident at the property, remembered. “I looked outside, I saw a lot of smoke from the garage — not in the house, in the garage.”
“I was inside the house,” stated another man who lives on the first floor. “Everyone went to the back [of the garage] to try and get them out but couldn’t. We did not have a chance. The fire was too big to go into. My other friend went in and tried to get him out. “He couldn’t.”
After being dispatched to an incorrect location one block away, firefighters found the smoldering garage, according to Battalion Chief Jack Flatley.
“The alley was filled with smoke. There were flames emanating from the first-floor garage. They had quick access to a standard entrance, but they had to cut the garage doors to open it,” Flatley explained.
Firefighters examined the two-level garage and located two victims, one on each floor. The unidentified man and lady were pronounced dead on the scene, according to police and fire authorities.
“We believed from reports, and neighbors’ reports that people were living in there, so we did a diligence search and were able to locate the two victims,” Flatley informed the audience.
By 7:30 a.m., firefighters had brought the flames under control, according to officials.
The two victims, both approximately 30, were in a love relationship, according to the man, who lives on the first floor with seven other people.
“It hurts, man.” “I’ve known them for years,” claimed the man, who requested anonymity.
The first-floor windows of the three-story house were boarded up on Saturday morning.
Flatley noted “heavy clutter” in the garage, which included multiple couches and pigeon coops.
Flatley confirmed that the Department of Buildings has been alerted of the vacant structure.
The FDNY reported that no e-bikes or lithium-ion battery-type gadgets were discovered at the scene. incident marshals were still looking into the cause of the incident Saturday morning.