Over a dozen injured, hundreds displaced in Queens apartment building fire

NEW YORK -- A stubborn fire displaced hundreds of residents from an apartment building in Queens on Wednesday.

The FDNY said a total of 14 people were treated with non-life-threatening injuries, including a firefighter who is in serious-but-stable condition.

It was a massive scene on 47th Avenue in Sunnyside, with nearly 200 firefighters and EMS personnel at one point responding to the multi-alarm blaze.

"I feel bad for the people that lost their apartment. I've never seen something like this," one person said.

The long-time resident was in shock watching firefighters take on the apartment building blaze. He said he was home around noon when the fire broke out and prioritized saving his neighbor's dog.

"I had to hound the super for his keys, so we actually had to sneak in. I opened his apartment and we got the dog out," the man said.

"I'm indebted to him forever," resident Oscar Saintclemente said.

Saintclemente, who was later reunited with his dog, was at work when the fire broke out. He said he hopes all his neighbors are okay.

"I'm just kind of now praying everyone is OK after this because there's definitely going to be a lot of damage," Saintclemente said.

The FDNY said firefighters were met with a heavy fire condition, which quickly escalated inside the six-story apartment building that houses more than 100 units.

"It's a very large E-shaped building. It has four main wings, A-D. Our main fire was in the middle wings, the B-C wing," FDNY Chief Tom Currao said, adding that added to the challenge for firefighters, who wereseen relentlessly fighting the fire.

Shelly Phifer-Torres and her husband said their cat kept going to the door, indicating something was wrong.

"Our cat saved us. Our cat!" Phifer-Torres said. "For some reason when he went to the door, we heard all this noise. We look out the peephole and see a very large amount of firemen coming upstairs."

She said they grabbed essentials and rushed out, notifying neighbors, too. They were among the estimated 450 residents who live in the complex who are out of their home ahead of the holiday.

"We don't have anywhere to go tonight," Phifer-Torres said.

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"Everything is gone. Everything. I just have this right here. Slippers, pajamas, that's it," resident Milly Maldonado said.

Maldonado says she was fast asleep and woke up to a smoke-filled apartment.

"It was moving really fast. We had to get out of there fast," she said.

She grabbed her two cats and her dog and fled.

"All I just thought was my animals, getting them out," Maldonado said.

"Me and my roommate are able to stay at someone's house and crash and everything, but it's just the process after this, trying to figure out what to do next," resident Chelsey Hernandez said.

Cindy Rodriguez, a mother of 10-year-old twins, lives on the first floor and has no idea of the condition of her apartment.

"I'm just thinking of my kids," she said, adding that she had nowhere to go. "It's really hard. I don't know, when I see my kids now, how I'm going to react."

Neighbors watched nervously as a cat sat on a window ledge close to flames and rejoiced once its rescue was made.

Officials say the building has sustained significant damage; a part of the sixth floor burned out and the apartments on the other floors have smoke and water damage.

"Unfortunately, very heavy fire damage throughout the building, either from fire condition or from the water that was applied," Currao said.

The Red Cross and the city's Office of Emergency Management set up a reception center for displaced resident at the Children's Lab School. They are helping tenants with the necessities and a place to stay, while others are staying with families and friends.

The FDNY said it anticipated working well into Wednesday night at the scene, adding it will be a while before the cause of the blaze is determined.

In:
• Apartment Fire
• Queens
• FDNY
• Fire