Fire in St. Albans Home Claims Lives of two Brothers, Leaves Adult in Serious Condition

NY Daily News – October 07, 2014

by Joseph Stepansky, Oren Yaniv

Two young brothers died after being trapped in a burning home in Queens on Monday night, and a man who made a valiant attempt to save them was seriously injured.

Searing heat and thick smoke forced the potential savior of brothers Ajay and Michael Policard, ages 6 and 11, to jump out of a second-floor window of the burning home on Tioga Drive in St. Albans.

He simply couldn’t reach them.

Firefighters did, following a 911 call about 7 p.m., and pulled the children out of the home, but both later died at Queens Hospital Center.

About an hour after the fire broke out, after Ajay and Michael perished, their mother arrived at the home, screaming in unbearable pain, and breaking the hearts of her neighbors.

“To see a mother come home and find out her children had burned up, it’s horrific,” said neighbor Venay Mobley, 54. “She was yelling and screaming and asking God, ‘Why?’ ”

The blaze started on the first floor of the home, and Mobley said she heard what sounded like an explosion. “I heard something go boom. I assumed it was a car accident,” said Mobley. “It was like an explosion. When I heard it, I came running out.”

Another neighbor, Cass Agbi, 49, said he saw the flames from his yard, and ran over to the burning home.

“The entire front was engulfed in flames,” he said.

When Agbi got there, the man who had tried to rescue the children was outside, seriously injured from his jump from the second story.

“He said there were two kids on the first floor. He tried to go down to the first floor; when he opened the door, the smoke overtook him, so he went back and jumped out of the window,” Agbi said.

Minutes later, a firefighter was performing CPR on Ajay and rushing him to a waiting ambulance, said witness Junior Sutherland, 48. “I saw they pulled out the kid,” Sutherland said. “He didn’t even look like he was breathing. One side of his face was burned. Everyone was frantic.”

The boys were both in cardiac arrest when they were taken to Queens Hospital Center; they died about an hour later, cops said.

The man who tried to save them, described by police as a 33-year-old, was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition early Tuesday.

It was not clear if an adult was caring for the boys in the moments before the fire broke out.

A mother came home to find her sons Ajay and Michael Policard were killed in a Queens fire.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A mother came home to find her sons Ajay and Michael Policard were killed in a Queens fire.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Three firefighters were treated for minor injuries, said FDNY Commander James Leonard. He said it took firefighters about 40 minutes to bring the “heavy fire condition” under control, and that those who battled the flames were saddened by not being able to save the two boys.

“They’re humans; they feel it, but it is part of their job,” Leonard said.

With Ken Murray

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