{"id":57476,"date":"2025-12-01T18:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/57476\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T18:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:59:10","slug":"mom-mourns-daughter-6-who-died-days-after-queens-fire-that-killed-95-year-old-matriarch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/57476\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom mourns daughter, 6, who died days after Queens fire that killed 95-year-old matriarch"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 6-year-old girl has died after being left brain dead by a raging Queens house fire<\/a> that killed her 95-year-old great-grandmother and criticlly hurt her grandmother, the girl\u2019s devastated mother told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

Little Aylani Burgos died Friday, five days after the raging fire consumed the family\u2019s multi-generational home on 202nd St. near 113th Ave. in St. Albans, claiming the life of her great-grandmother. The little girl\u2019s grandmother is still fighting for life on a ventilator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in shock,\u201d Aylani\u2019s mom, Janai Grant, 25, told the Daily News in an exclusive interview. \u201cI just know when it comes to seeing (Aylani) in the casket, it\u2019s going to break me apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grieving mom shared with The News a poem Aylani wrote that Grant only discovered after her little girl\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recently came home and I found her book and she wrote this little poem,\u201d Grant explaned. \u201cI never check her diary. She would just show me, like, \u2018Look, Mommy.\u2019 She never showed me this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Aylani's<\/p>\n

GoFundMe; Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

Aylani\u2019s mother, Janai Grant (left), shared a poem Aylani wrote in her diary (right) that Grant discovered after the little girl’s death. (GoFundMe; Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

The poem, written in a furry pink notebook on paper with a unicorn illustration, talks about being sad and happy at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly how I feel,\u201d Grant said, her voice breaking. \u201cI feel happy and sad. I feel happy that she\u2019s at peace, she doesn\u2019t have to have tubes down her throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aylani, who lived with her mother in South Hempstead, L.I., had spent the night at the longtime family home shared by her grandmother and great-grandmother while her mom worked when the fire erupted around 7:50 a.m. Nov. 23.<\/p>\n

\"Aylani<\/p>\n

Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

Aylani Burgos, 6, has died after clinging to life for days after a fire broke out in her family’s Queens house on Nov. 23. (Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

The FDNY has not yet determined the cause of the fire but Grant says investigators told her they believe it was electrical in nature. The blaze, which began in the cellar, quickly spread to the second floor, where the three victims were trapped.<\/p>\n

Firefighters rescued lttle Aylani first. She was taken to Cohen Children\u2019s Medical Center in critical condition.<\/p>\n

Alani\u2019s 68-year-old grandmother, Paula Buncom-Grant, was taken to Long Island Jewish Valley Stream in critical condition. She is now alert and was temporarily breathing on her own but has since been put back on a ventilator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat lady\u2019s a warrior,\u201d Grant said of her mother. \u201cThat lady\u2019s a fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alani\u2019s great-grandmother, Joyce Buncom, was rushed to the same hospital but could not be saved.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

The fire consumed the multi-generational home on 202nd St. in St. Albans. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Grant was getting ready for work when she learned about the fire and dropped everything to get to the flaming house. She works two jobs, at a hospital and in orthopedics.<\/p>\n

She then rushed from the scene to her daughter\u2019s hospital bedside, where doctors told her Aylani had lost consciousness for 46 minutes. As a result, she was braindead,<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me her realm of dreaming and thinking critically and her memories, her personality, that\u2019s completely gone,\u201d Grant said. \u201cAt first I was in denial, like maybe a miracle\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ran the test again the next day and it was the same thing. I asked to see the scans,\u201d she added. \u201cShe had absolutely not even the slightest bit of brain activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(Left<\/p>\n

GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Aylani Burgos (center) with her great-grandmother Joyce Buncom, who died in the fire, and her grandmother Paula Buncom-Grant, who is still hospitalized. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

Grant said she was still in the process of saying goodbye when Aylani\u2019s organs started failing. The little girl died early Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was my everything, my only child. I had her at 19 so we were growing up together,\u201d Grant said. \u201dI used to joke and say, \u2018I\u2019m one and done.\u2019 Because there is never going to be anyone like her, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just so fun being her mom \u2014 like, so fun,\u201d she added. \u201cThe most rewarding job in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aylani had just transferred to Public School 95 The Gravesend School a week before the fire, Grant said. She participated in gymnastics and cooking club.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very smart,\u201d Grant said. \u201cShe loved to read. She loved to write and draw. She was excellent at drawing. She definitely loved her iPad and her Roblox. She had such a creative, beautiful mind. Her life barely started and she passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant is also mourning her nonagenarian grandmother.<\/p>\n

Born in 1930, Buncom, who stood only 4-foot-11, was a former correction officer and gym teacher. She and her husband moved to St. Albans in the 1960s, buying the house that burned for $40,000, according to Grant.<\/p>\n

\"Aylani's<\/p>\n

GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Aylani’s great-grandmother Joyce Buncom, 95, died in the fire on Nov. 23. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

An avid traveler who loved bingo, crocheting and dancing, she was a devoted member of her local St. Pascal Baylon Church for over 60 years. She continued going to Mass every Sunday and remained active in church life well into her 90s, her family says.<\/p>\n

Grant has started a GoFundMe<\/a> to help cover mounting hospital and funeral costs. Little Aylani\u2019s service is planned for Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a lot for me because I have to deal with planning two funerals and my mom\u2019s in the hospital,\u201d Grant said. \u201cThere\u2019s progress and stuff and then it\u2019s like taking five steps forward and two steps back. It\u2019s just so hard for me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Rocco Parascandola<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 6-year-old girl has died after being left brain dead by a raging Queens house fire that killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,10,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":["post-57476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57476","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=57476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}