Man describes jumping out of window during fatal Queens fire: ‘scary’

QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) – A man living in a Queens home that caught fire early Sunday morning said he was fully asleep when the fire started, then jumped out a window to safety. 

“I was hearing the guy upstairs… fighting for his life … then I see the smoke,” Tony Rock told PIX11 News. “I had to jump, do what I had to do.”  

Three people were killed and at least eight others injured in the fire that burned for over an hour on Chevy Chase Street between Cambridge Road and Henley Road, fire officials said. The men who died were 45, 52 and 67 years old, police said.

“You see dead bodies in the front, that’s scary. Could have been me,” Rock said. 

Rock said the property is a rooming house, a property temporarily housing multiple families or individuals. FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said the home was “very crowded,” with occupants living in the basement or cellar level, first and second floors, and attic of the home.

Long-time neighbors told PIX11 News they’ve been complaining to the city for nearly a decade, and the situation has been “extremely frustrating.” They say there are always different people coming and going, and that they’ve noticed the house being altered over the years.  

“We have been complaining about this house and we’ve gotten nowhere with the city agencies,” said Martha Taylor, chair of Queens’ Community Board 8. 

The Department of Buildings has responded to multiple 311 complaints claiming the building had illegal conversions, but were unable to access the property for inspection, according to a spokesperson for the department. The most recent 311 complaint about the property was in 2023.

Before that, the department issued two violations to the property related to the use of the basement and an illegally constructed wood-framed structure on the property, according to a spokesperson for the DOB. 

Taylor said something needs to change so that the Department of Buildings can get access to properties like this one on Chevy Chase Street. 

“There’s nothing they can do when they can’t gain access,” Taylor said. “The law needs to be changed somehow, so when they come here and knock on the door and ring the bell, they can gain access and see what’s going on.”

PIX11 News could not reach the building’s owner for comment.