NY Daily News – May 23, 2016
by Adam Schrader Keldy Ortiz Thomas Tracy
A bedridden 99-year-old woman and her home health aide were hospitalized in critical condition after a fire tore through the elderly resident’s Queens home early Saturday, officials said.
The blaze broke out on the first floor of the 31st Ave. home in Woodside belonging to victim Marjorie Idasiak and her husband about 6:20 a.m., officials said.
Idasiak is six months away from her 100th birthday.
Capt. John Leimeister of Ladder 117 and firefighters Edward Fitzgerald and Denis Mandel of Ladder 154 rescued Idasiak, who neighbors say suffers from dementia, from the second floor.
“We came across a woman who was lying on the floor,” Mandel said. “She was moaning and stuff. We just dragged her out.”
Idasiak and her home health aide both suffered severe burns and were rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition, an FDNY spokesman said. “I saw two people on the ground and they were trying to resuscitate them,” said neighbor Wally Mohammed.
Idasiak’s 90-year-old husband Henry made it out safely on his own.
“He appeared extremely distraught and just wanted to go to the hospital to see his wife,” neighbor Faraz Mohammed said.
“He spends all the time taking care of her. They’re very affectionate and are all each other has. They have no children.” Firefighters also saved a family — two adults and two children — trapped on the third floor.
“We found them near a window in the rear,” Leimeister said.
“They were just looking for air. We sheltered them in place until the companies got the fire knocked down.”
The blaze was out within 45 minutes, officials said. In addition to Idasiak and her home health aide, five victims were hospitalized with minor injuries, officials said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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