A fast moving fire tore through a row of homes in the Woodhaven section of Queens on Tuesday afternoon, growing to three alarms as firefighters battled to keep the flames from spreading further. What began at a single house quickly became a multi home emergency, sending smoke over the neighborhood and drawing a heavy response from the New York City Fire Department as crews worked to bring the blaze under control.
The fire broke out just before 4 o'clock in the afternoon, according to fire officials. It was reported at 85-42 76th Street, on a block that sits between 85th Drive and 85th Road, a densely built residential stretch of Woodhaven where homes stand shoulder to shoulder. Within roughly half an hour, firefighters were on the scene and beginning to make progress against the flames.
Investigators say the blaze appears to have started on the upper floor of the house in the middle of the row. From there, the flames pushed outward, and the fire did not stay contained to a single structure. It went on to damage two other homes standing on either side, turning what might have been a single house fire into a far larger incident.
The close spacing of the buildings was a central part of the problem. All three of the affected structures are two story multifamily homes, packed tightly together with little room between them. That proximity gave the fire an easy path to jump from one building to the next, complicating the work of the crews trying to cut it off.
Firefighters mounted an aggressive response as the fire burned. Crews managed to gain access inside the home and climbed onto the roof, where they worked to vent the fire and release the built up heat and smoke. Officials said the blaze was not quite under control, but that firefighters were starting to gain the upper hand as the operation continued.
The scene drew large numbers of people out onto the street. Many residents from the affected homes and surrounding buildings gathered outside, watching as the fire was fought and as smoke rose above the rooftops. For families living in the multifamily homes, the fire threatened not just one household but several under the same roofs.
As the afternoon wore on, the focus remained on knocking down the flames and preventing any further spread along the block. With crews still working inside and on the roof, the full extent of the damage and the circumstances that led to the fire were not immediately clear, and the situation remained active as firefighters pressed on toward getting the blaze fully under control.