New York City: The Fire Department of New York reported that an 86-year-old woman and her son perished in a fire in Queens. The man had hurried back inside the flaming house in an attempt to save his mother.
Around six o’clock at night, a bystander named Gersham McGowan noticed the two-alarm fire that was coming from the basement of a house on 164th Street between 108th and 109th avenues in Jamaica. He stopped and dialed 911. A man outside the home said to McGowan that he had to go inside to save his mother.
“He never came out, his mom never came out either, and later on I saw they took two bodies from the house,” McGowan said.
The fire quickly advanced from the basement, up two stories. The firefighters arrived at the scene immediately and started the process. More than 100 firefighters were working to set off the blaze.
During a press conference, FDNY Deputy Chief George Healy stated that firemen discovered the two victims on the second floor. Healy pointed out that the presence of medical equipment within the house may have contributed to the mother’s incapacity to leave the house unaided. When the flames were put out, the house was destroyed. An inquiry is underway to find the fire’s cause.