By Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Arson is suspected in the raging fire in an illegally subdivided Queens apartment building that killed four people, including a 3-year-old girl, the Daily News has learned.
Squatters were staying in the building when the blaze broke out on Avery Ave. near College Point Blvd. in Flushing about 12:30 p.m. March 16, officials said.
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The owner of a nearby gas station heard what he described as an explosion and looked across the street to see people leaping from the building.
“Something blew up,” Wadud Mohammad, 59, told the Daily News shortly after the fire. “The whole roof was on fire. People were jumping from the building. Others were running across the street.”
The toddler died along with a man and a 62-year-old woman, a 61-year-old man and a 57-year-old man after the four-alarm fire broke out. One of the men died at a local hospital while the other three victims died at the scene.
The victims’ names have still not been released.
As of Wednesday, no arrests have been made in the investigation but multiple FDNY and NYPD sources said arson is suspected. The official cause has yet to be determined.
The fire quickly spread to an adjoining corner property on College Point Blvd.
Because the building had been illegally subdivided, the owner of the building could be facing criminal charges. But it has been difficult for investigators to determine who owns the building, which has a vacant storefront on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors.
Neighbors said the longtime owner had died and the building fell into further disrepair after that.
In 2020, the city Department of Buildings put a partial vacate order on the building where the fire broke out, 132-05 Avery Ave., after the city received repeated complaints that the owner had illegally subdivided the three-story property. The partial vacate order was still in effect when the blaze broke out.
As many as a dozen people were living in the third-floor apartment where the fire started, a neighbor told the Daily News.
“The apartment was vacant. Nobody was supposed to be living there. They were squatting,” said the 30-year-old neighbor, who declined to share her name.
A man who works nearby said the building that caught fire had long been a problem property.
“That building is chaos,” said the 30-year-old worker, who would only identify himself as Eric. “The door is always open like anyone can just walk in. No one was taking care of that house,”
Building Department records indicate that an inspection of the Avery Ave. address in 2020 revealed the owner improperly converted the two-family building into a seven-family building “by creating five additional single-room occupancies and nine additional bedrooms.”
Inspectors found the rooms “with key locking devices, bed, TV, cooking equipment, refrigerators and food items in rooms,” city records show.
More than 230 firefighters and EMS members fought the fire and treated the wounded. Five firefighters, including two who fell through a staircase, were hospitalized with minor injuries.
Seven surviving residents — three women and four men ranging in age from 33 to 67 — were treated for burns, smoke inhalation and other minor injuries.
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