Six-alarm fire in Richmond Hill displaces 40 residents

A six-alarm fire tore through a Richmond Hill apartment building early Thursday morning. Photo courtesy of FDNY Response Videos

By Rachel Vick

At least 40 Queens residents became homeless overnight after a six-alarm fire tore through a Richmond Hill block early Thursday morning.

The fire started around 1 a.m. inside a barber shop on the first floor of 109-25 Jamaica Ave. and quickly spread to the apartments above before consuming five other buildings, said FDNY Assistant Chief John Hodgens.

About 200 firefighters arrived to battle the blaze, which took nearly three hours to extinguish.

“We had an advanced fire on arrival and it quickly extended into a common area that runs above the ceiling in these old frame structures” Hodgens said at a press conference Thursday. “Once it gets in there we have to try and get ahead of it.”

“It’s all wood structure, old, so that's the challenge,” he added. “It's a fast-moving fire.”

Residents fled the buildings and were unharmed, according to the FDNY. They sought shelter from the cold in MTA buses parked nearby while the Red Cross worked to find somewhere for them to go.

FDNY firefighters arrived within three minutes of receiving the emergency call. Three firefighters were treated for minor injuries at Jamaica Hospital.

The investigation is ongoing.