A 3-year-old girl was among four victims killed in a tragic fire at a Queens building — where people never should have been living on the upper floors, investigators said.
Video from Monday showed smoke pouring out from the windows of the building on Avery Avenue in Flushing, after flames broke out just before 12:30 p.m. on the first and second floors, according to the FDNY. At least four people died as a result of the fire, according to fire officials.
The identities of those killed have not yet been released, but officials said the victims were a 3-year-old girl, a 62-year-old woman, a 51-year-old man and a 61-year-old man. Several others were hurt, including two in critical condition and two firefighters who had to be extricated from the building after a staircase collapse led to a “may day” call. The firefighters were expected to recover.
At one point, firefighters could be seen on a ladder pulling a man from a window on the second floor. A witness described seeing two people jump from the second floor, including a woman who shouted “my baby, my baby.”
More than 230 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to the scene. It was not immediately clear what sparked the fire. An investigation by FDNY fire marshals is ongoing.
The mixed-use building between College Point Boulevard and Saull Street had commercial businesses on the first floor and multiple apartments on the two floors above. But as the charred wreckage was exposed Tuesday, so was the building’s long history of violations.
Since 2020, the city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) had issued more than 50 violations for the property, including gambling. Records show inspectors found the illegal gambling setup on the first floor in 2023 and issued a $25,000 fine. The NYPD said the incident led to an arrest.
In Jan. 2026, the latest violation was for a failure to maintain. City investigators found extension cords running from the first to the third floors.
That discovery was shocking in itself, given that in 2020 the DOB had issued a partial vacate order for the second and third floors after finding illegal apartment conversions. The department said no one should have been living up there whatsoever, but several people still were.
“In this kind of case, you don’t know who is living there, there could be seven or eight John Does living there,” a neighbor said.
The fire damaged a second building, too, off College Point Boulevard. The DOB issued full vacate orders for it and the other building on Avery Avenue.
“The multi agency investigation into this tragic fatal fire is ongoing, and additional enforcement actions are pending the results of that investigation,” the DOB said in a statement.
When asked if the DOB can remove residents when a vacate order is issued, a representative said the agency does not physically remove people, but rather it is up to property owners to prevent people being in the space.