July 25 (Reuters) – At least 21 people were injured on Saturday in a multi-alarm fire in the New York City borough of Queens, authorities said.
The injured included 19 firefighters who were taken to local hospitals, the New York Fire Department said in a statement.
CBS News New York said none of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries in the blaze that erupted in the Flushing neighborhood. Five of the injured firefighters sustained moderate to serious injuries, including one who was hospitalized in serious condition, local TV station PIX 11 said.
The fire started around 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) in a home near College Point Boulevard and spread to two adjoining buildings, the New York Fire Department said.
Photographs on the PIX 11 website showed smoke engulfing a row of homes, a cluster of emergency vehicles at the scene and a firefighter directing a stream of water from atop a ladder.
Many residents had to be rescued from the home in which the fire erupted, PIX 11 said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Sergio Non and Paul Simao)
