FDNY officials say the fire broke out around 6:45 p.m. in a vacant, two-story rectory, then spread to a vacant church next door. Both are over 100 years old.
Officials say 84 units and 270 fire and EMS personnel responded to the five-alarm fire.
A thick wall of smoke swallowed the neighborhood as the firefighters tried to knock down the raging flames, but the flames were relentless.
Debris rained down on top of New York's Bravest after part of the roof collapsed. Six firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including a firefighter who was struck in the head by falling debris from the collapse. He is conscious and alert, and is expected to be OK.
"Once the fire gets into these old churches behind the walls and into the roof space, it's very difficult to extinguish, and there was major collapse danger to our members," said FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods. "So due to the structural stability of the building, and due to the amount of fire, we went to an exterior attack, and while operating on the exterior, a portion of the roof started collapsing, walls collapsed and some bricks hit one of our members in the helmet."
The FDNY had to get creative maneuvering tower ladders up 12th Street at Astoria Boulevard. It was a tight squeeze as they doused the flames that consumed the church and shot out of the windows with aggression.
The church, the First Reform Church of Astoria, is a neighborhood relic.
People who live in the area say the building has been here for centuries, but the church has been abandoned for some time now. The community has been concerned about trespassers.
"Sad, you know. It's a nice-looking church. You know, you don't want to see your building go up in flames," said Astoria resident Allen Yee. "So, yeah, it's just sad. And I don't want to see this happening in my neighborhood."
"Hurts. My whole family. My sister was just over here. My niece went to this church. My mother went to the church," said a witness named Kevin Harris.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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