By Nicholas Williams, Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Firefighters battled a massive five-alarm fire Friday evening that broke out inside a Queens lumberyard, the FDNY said.
Hundreds of firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to the blaze after a 911 call of smoke that started inside a two-story building on around 7:30 p.m. at 130th St. and 23rd Ave. in College Point.
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No one was reported to be inside of the building. Firefighters initially struggled to extinguish the flames when they entered it.
“The high volume of fire and the large amount of fuel limited their ability to put that fire out,” FDNY Assistant Chief Michael Meyers said. “The 52nd Battalion had to pull all members out of the building because they were worried there was no life hazard and it was becoming a incredibly large volume of fire.”
The firefighters then retreated and regrouped, where they called in tower ladders to the scene. At one point, eight tower ladders surrounded the building, shooting water onto the inferno from all directions, limiting the flames from spreading to other buildings.
After more than 12 hours, the fire was placed under control at 7:58 a.m. on Saturday .
No one was injured in the fire.
“We went up to a fifth-alarm fire within one hour, where we had over 90 fire and EMS units on scene, approximately 300 members who worked tirelessly to put this fire out and to make sure nobody got hurt,” Meyers said.
The FDNY is investigating the fire’s cause.
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