ASTORIA, QUEENS (WABC) — A contractor is facing charges after a fire tore through several homes Wednesday morning in Astoria, Queens.
The Ahmed family is living out of shopping bags because they’re not allowed to stay in their home.
“Heartbreaking. I see my house and now the very troubling thing is, where are you going to go? My parents were at home and they heard someone screaming,” Liton Ahmen said.
The fire broke out a few doors down and damaged a whole row of homes on 42nd Street in Astoria.
“Not only financial, but also emotionally like all our stuff. Going from hotel to hotel trying to figure out what we need to do. It’s a lot. It’s going to be a lot,” Parmita Ahmed said.
Firefighters worked atop smoldering rooftops as the flames spread fast to the connected homes.
Sources tell Eyewitness News someone was on the roof doing illegal construction work involving a torch.
“It is a wood frame building and you’re not supposed to be using a torch on a wood frame building,” FDNY Chief Jeff Meister said.
Sources told Eyewitness News two fire marshals who happened to be driving in the area heard the call come over the radio and decided to drive over to check it out.
They saw the homes on fire and helped people escape.
The Ahmed family, along with residents of four buildings, are now displaced after a costly mistake.
Police said a 28-year-old man who was working on the roof with a propane torch has been arrested and charged with reckless endangerment.
Officials say the investigation is ongoing.
