A man and woman were killed Saturday morning after a fire ripped through a Queens garage, cops and fire officials said.
Sixty firefighters responded to the “cluttered” two-story garage behind a private home on 91st Ave. near 175th St. in Jamaica after receiving a call at about 6:35 a.m., officials said.
“I was sleeping, and suddenly I woke up. I heard someone yelling, ‘Get out! Get out!’” Faim Shorom, 28, a second-floor resident of the home, recalled. “I looked outside, I saw a lot of smoke from the garage — not in the house, in the garage.”
“I was in the house,” said another man who lives on the place’s first floor. “Everybody went to the back [to the garage] to try to get them out and couldn’t. We didn’t have a chance. The fire was too huge to get in. My other friend… he went in, he tried to get him and get him out. He couldn’t.”
After initially being called to an incorrect address one block away, firefighters located the burning garage, Battalion Chief Jack Flatley said.
“There was a lot of smoke in the alley… There was flames coming out of the garage on the first floor. They did have immediate access to a regular door, but then they had cut the garage doors to open it up,” Flatley said.
Firefighters searched the two-level garage, where they discovered the two victims, one on each floor. The unidentified man and woman were pronounced dead at the scene, cops and fire officials said.
“We believed from reports, and neighbors’ reports that people were living in there, so we did a diligence search and were able to locate the two victims,” Flatley said.
Firefighters brought the flames under control by 7:30 a.m., officials said.
The two victims, who were both around 30, were in a romantic relationship, according to the man, who lives on the home’s first floor along with seven others.
“It hurts man. I’ve known them for years,” said the man, who wished to remain anonymous.
The first-floor windows of the three-story home were boarded up on Saturday morning.
Flatley described “heavy clutter” in the garage, including several couches and pigeon coops.
The Department of Buildings has been notified of the vacant structure, Flatley said.
No e-bikes or lithium-ion battery-type devices were found at the scene, according to the FDNY. Fire marshals were still investigating the cause of the fire Saturday morning.
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