A fire that ripped through an apartment building in Astoria Tuesday — and injured six people — was caused by an outlet power strip overloading, the FDNY announced today (Photo Citizen)
Sept. 7, 2022 By Michael Dorgan
A fire that ripped through an apartment building in Astoria Tuesday — and injured six people — was caused by an outlet power strip overloading, the FDNY announced today.
The blaze broke out just before 8 p.m. yesterday on the second floor of a 3-story apartment building at 42-13 23rd Ave. The FDNY sent out 12 units and around 60 firefighters to extinguish the flames.
Video footage shows smoke billowing out of a window on the second floor of the building.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, at least two people had already jumped out of the building to escape, FDNY Deputy Chief Mark Cuccurullo told the New York Post. Neither was seriously injured.
Six people in total required medical attention stemming from the fire, with five of them taken to area hospitals, the FDNY said. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
The FDNY did rescue four people from the building, including a mother and her newborn baby, Cuccurullo said. The baby was first retrieved by firefighters via a rear fire escape before the mother was helped, he said. It isn’t clear whether the mother and child were among the six injured.
The blaze was brought under control at around 8:30 p.m., the FDNY said.
Investigators have determined that the blaze was caused by an outlet power strip on the second floor overloading. The electrical power strip then caught fire, which spread throughout the three-story building.
In response to yesterday’s fire, the FDNY urged the public on social media to avoid overloading extension cords with multiple items, appliances, or power strips.
The department cited overloaded electrical outlets as one of the major causes of residential fires.
Fire units tackling the blaze in Astoria Tuesday (Photos: Citizen)
Per #FDNY Fire Marshals the cause of yesterday’s all-hands fire at 42-13 23 Avenue in #Queens which injured six people was accidental, electrical, overloaded power strip. pic.twitter.com/KA3mhEchC8
— FDNY (@FDNY) September 7, 2022
