STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Heartbreaking photos show the vestiges of Christmas amid destruction caused by an overnight fire that tore through a Castleton Corners apartment. <\/p>\n
The FDNY responded to the blaze at 1:29 a.m. Friday, with 12 units and roughly 60 firefighters, to the scene on Hodges Place. <\/p>\n
The fire was placed under control at 2:42 a.m., according to a FDNY spokesperson.<\/p>\n
No injuries were reported, FDNY officials said.<\/p>\n
The blaze heavily damaged the exterior and interior of the three-story home, charring walls and blowing out multiple windows.<\/p>\n
Paul Hansalik, who has owned the property for more than 30 years, said Friday that he believes the fire began in an outdoor shed and spread quickly. <\/p>\n
While the loss is devastating, he said his primary concern is for the tenants displaced during the holidays. He said two families live at the property, one on the first floor and another on the second.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u201cA place can be replaced. People can\u2019t,\u201d Hansalik said. \u201cEverything else can be repaired \u2014 people can\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday afternoon, belongings from inside the apartments were piled up outside. Inside, walls were melted, a decorated Christmas tree laid on its side, doors removed from their hinges rested against the wall and boards covered holes where windows once were. <\/p>\n
In a bedroom with a dollhouse the ceiling had collapsed. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine them going through what they\u2019re (experiencing) right now during the holiday season,\u201d Hansalik said. \u201cThis is hell. This is a living hell, as far as I\u2019m concerned that they\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
A next-door neighbor, Christine Urcinoli said she woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of breaking glass and saw multiple fire trucks arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was paying close attention to everything that was going on because I was very worried because I didn\u2019t know the extent of it,\u201d Urcinoli said. \u201cWhen I looked and saw everything being blown up, I was like, oh, my God, it was scary.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Heartbreaking photos show the vestiges of Christmas amid destruction caused by an overnight fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-81886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81886","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=81886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}