Photo via Lefteris Hasapis.
By COLE SINANIAN
cole@queensledger.com
ASTORIA — A two-alarm fire broke out in the basement of 44-09 30th Ave in Astoria Tuesday night, leaving two firefighters injured.
The fire department received a call at 5:52pm February 24 of a fire in the basement of the building, whose ground floor is currently occupied by Arber’s Barbershop. According to a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) spokesperson, the fire was under control by 7:05pm. Two firefighters were transported to Weill Cornell Medicine with minor injuries.
In a video provided by Lefteris Hasapis — who serves as president of the “Hephaestus” Pan-Lemnian Philanthropic Association, a Greek social club located next door — several firefighters can be seen breaking down the door at 44-09 30th as smoke billows from a second story window.
It is unclear how the fire reached the second floor, but Reddit users on r/astoria described the scene on Tuesday evening:
“There are like 7 blocks of fire trucks, kind of insane,” one wrote.
“Everyone made it out ok, but several apartments are ruined and others need to be repaired from the damage made during the fire fight process,” wrote another, who said they lived in one of the neighboring apartments.
NYC Department of buildings issued an order to vacate all four of the building’s dwelling units in a notice posted on the door dated February 24, citing fire, smoke and water damage sustained throughout the building’s structure.
“A 2-story , mixed use, non-fireproof building sustained extensive fire, smoke and water damage throughout with charred structural members, broken windows at exposures 1 and 3 at second floor, residential level & roll down gate at ground floor level defective in addition to sections of the roof missing leaving the structure open to the elements,” the notice read.
“These conditions have therefore rendered the ENTIRE building unsafe to enter and/or occupy,” it continued.
During a Queens Community Board 1 meeting at Astoria World Manor on February 17th, Captain Joe Delligatti of the FDNY’s Fire Safety Administration urged the public to make sure their homes are stocked with working smoke detectors and to devise fire escape plans.
“Like we have fire drills at school, we should have fire drills at home also,” Delligatti said. “In a fire, because it produces so much smoke, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. So having that plan is so important.”
