Fire destroys rectory, vacant Queens church; 6 firefighters hurt
QUEENS, New York (WABC) -- Firefighters remained on the scene Friday morning of a devastating fire that burned through a rectory and church in Astoria, Queens, injuring six of their own.
Charred debris was all that remained of the rectory and the neighboring vacant church was also badly damaged.
Flames quickly spread through the First Reform Church of Astoria and its rectory at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.
It was all hands on deck. Roughly 270 firefighters and EMS responded to the five-alarm fire.
Crews had a difficult time navigating the narrow 12th Street to get to the flames. It was challenging as the FDNY fought the fire from multiple streets.
"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."
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 recover.
The First Reform Church of Astoria, is a neighborhood relic.
People who live in the area say the building has been there 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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