6 injured in massive Queens building fire; second 5-alarm fire in NYC in 2 days

Cayla Bamberger and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Jan 6, 2026

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NEW YORK — Five firefighters were injured as they battled a massive five-alarm fire in a Queens apartment building early Tuesday, including one who was hit in the head with an air conditioner that fell out of a window, the FDNY said.

It was the second major fire to hit the city in two days, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said as he showed up at the Madison Street blaze in Ridgewood.

The blaze broke out on the first floor of the apartment building near Onderdonk Avenue around 3:30 a.m., officials said.

“When we arrived, there was a heavy fire on the first floor, extending to the exposures of the buildings next door,” FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito explained. “Eventually, we had fire on all floors and in the fire building. The roof had collapsed.”

Four buildings were vacated as the fire was put out. The Red Cross set up a temporary shelter for displaced tenants at Public School 239 nearby.

By Tuesday morning, at least 29 people, representing 10 families, were displaced. Eighteen were sheltering at P.S. 239, according to the School District 24 superintendent, Anthony Rivera. Four students in the district were impacted by the fire, said Rivera, who said the blaze was “personal” to him.

“As a 5-year-old, we were involved in a fire,” Rivera said of his family and their former Bronx apartment. That fire started in his unit. “The Red Cross and the community wrapped their arms around us and made sure that we had what we needed. And so, to be able to do that for children and families, really means everything to me.”

More than 270 firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics showed up to combat the blaze and treat the injured.

Six people, including five firefighters, were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.

“We’re so thankful that for a fire of the scale there was no loss of life,” Mamdani said.

As the fire raged, a firefighter was struck in the head by an air conditioner that fell from a window.

“He was conscious and alert, but was in significant pain,” Esposito said.

The fire was so intense that firefighters had to be pulled out of the building and douse the flames from the outside. The conflagration was under control, but still burning hours after the blaze broke out, Esposito said.

Once the fire is out, FDNY fire marshals will determine what sparked it.

On Monday, a massive fire tore through a Bronx deli and the apartments above it.

Three fire hydrants were blocked by parked cars and some of the apartments did not have the required working smoke alarms in the building, on Findlay Avenue and East 170th Street, where the blaze broke out around 3:15 a.m., FDNY officials said.

It took firefighters nearly four hours to bring that fire under control. Two firefighters and a resident were treated at the hospital for minor injuries, officials said.

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