One person was killed and another critically injured in a Sunnyside apartment fire early Monday morning, according to media reports.
The blaze at 45-08 40 St. was called in to 911 just before 2:40 a.m., according to the Fire Department. The building, located on the south side of Queens Boulevard, contains five floors of apartments, with a ground floor of stores at one end, and the fire was on the second floor.
Twenty-one units comprising 79 fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded, and the blaze was reported under control at 3:21 a.m., the FDNY said.
Two civilians were transported to NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in critical condition, the department said; multiple media outlets reported that one of them died. A firefighter was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan with injuries considered serious but not life-threatening.
ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported that the deceased person was a 61-year-old man, and the surviving victim a man of 60. That could not be confirmed immediately with official sources.
The fire was the second to hit a Western Queens apartment house in less than 24 hours. A little before 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, the FDNY received a call reporting a fire on the top floor of 37-10 76 St. in Jackson Heights, a six-story building on the corner of 37th Avenue. Forty-six units consisting of 141 fire and EMS personnel responded, the department said, and the blaze was declared under control at 8:43 a.m. One civilian and two firefighters, all with minor injuries, were taken to unspecified area hospitals for treatment.
The cause of each fire is under investigation, the FDNY said.