{"id":215886,"date":"2026-04-30T20:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/215886\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:44:07","slug":"astoria-fire-nearby-fdny-marshals-help-evacuate-homes-from-fast-moving-queens-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/215886\/","title":{"rendered":"Astoria fire: Nearby FDNY marshals help evacuate homes from fast-moving Queens fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASTORIA, QUEENS (WABC) — Fire marshals who were only blocks away helped speed evacuations after a fast-moving fire swept through a row of connected homes on 42nd Street in Astoria on Wednesday night<\/a>, allowing all residents to escape without injury, officials said.<\/p>\n

FDNY Fire Marshal Michael Negron and his partner, Jesse Collado, were not expected to be first on scene when the call came over the radio. But the two happened to be nearby and immediately responded.<\/p>\n

“We were trying to get in as fast as possible because we knew that they didn’t have a lot of time,” Negron said.<\/p>\n

As they drove through the neighborhood, Collado spotted the fire location and alerted his partner.<\/p>\n

“I said to my partner, ‘Hey, Mike, make a right. It’s right here,'” Collado said.<\/p>\n

Collado confirmed the situation over the radio as smoke poured from an upper floor.<\/p>\n

“There’s smoke showing from the second floor,” according to an FDNY radio transmission.<\/p>\n

The fire intensified quickly, prompting calls for additional help.<\/p>\n

“The fire progressed very rapidly, and they needed more units to get here,” Collado said.<\/p>\n

Negron said the speed of the spread was unusual.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t seen fire move from one building, across to the third building, in less than 5 minutes,” he said.<\/p>\n

The two marshals began going door to door to alert residents and get them out as smoke thickened inside the buildings.<\/p>\n

“As we were in there, we started just breathing in the smoke. Visibility started getting very dark, and our concern was to get people out. There were multiple occupants in each of the buildings,” Collado said.<\/p>\n

Firefighters arriving on the scene extinguished the blaze, and all residents escaped without injuries.<\/p>\n

One resident, Michelle Ronda, said the quick response likely prevented a worse outcome.<\/p>\n

“I’m glad they acted so fast. These houses were built in 1910, and they’re tinder boxes, and they’re all connected,” she said.<\/p>\n

Investigators later determined the fire was sparked by a contractor who was illegally using a propane torch<\/a>, officials said.<\/p>\n

Police said a 28-year-old man who had been working on the roof with a propane torch was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment.<\/p>\n

FDNY Chief Fire Marshal Michael Kavanagh said such equipment is tightly restricted in the city.<\/p>\n

“The use of propane torches in New York City is highly regulated. And in these types of buildings, it’s actually prohibited,” Kavanagh said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the actions were criminal, Kavanagh responded, “What he did was criminal, and we were actually able to apprehend the torch user on the scene. And he’s now facing reckless endangerment charges.”<\/p>\n

Collado said sheer timing played a role in the successful outcome.<\/p>\n

Asked about the odds of driving past the fire, he said, “You know, we just came upon it. I guess we were – everyone in the neighborhood was fortunate that we were here.”<\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASTORIA, QUEENS (WABC) — Fire marshals who were only blocks away helped speed evacuations after a fast-moving fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[85176,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-215886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-85176","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}