NY Daily News – November 30, 2014
by Caitlin Nolan, Rocco Parascandola, Barry Paddock
Two people were critically injured in separate fires in Harlem and Queens Saturday morning. The earlier blaze broke out about 8:05 a.m. in the basement of the six-story building at W. 151st St. and Broadway, officials said.
The injured man, believed to be about 60, was found in the basement, which is shared by a pharmacy and deli on the ground floor.
A neighbor said the victim is a neighborhood fixture and unlicensed electrician nicknamed Electro who may have been sleeping in the basement.
“He was so burned,” said Robert Peguero, 36, a tenant in the building. “He was filled with smoke and black. We didn’t recognize him. When they gave him oxygen he woke up but then he fainted again.”
The victim was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in critical condition, officials said.
Erick Hernandez, who also lives in the building, had just arrived home from work and was taking the elevator when it began filling with smoke.
“I came back outside and the fire department was already here,” said Hernandez, 22.
“I saw they pulled out this guy and they give him oxygen. They said he was so filled with smoke the thing pumping oxygen turned black.”
It took firefighters half an hour to bring the fire under control.
Meanwhile, an 80-year-old woman suffered severe burns on over 70% of her body after her space heater sparked a fire in her Queens home, sources said.
The fire erupted in the living room of the victim’s home on 104-31 205th St. in Hollis about 9:40 a.m., officials said.
She was rushed to Nassau County Medical Center in critical condition.
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