Elmhurst Fire: 11 Firefighters Sustained Minor Injuries, FDNY Says

ELMHURST, QUEENS — A five-alarm fire tore through the roof of a residential building Tuesday in Elmhurst, injuring 11 firefighters and causing extensive damage to 112 apartments, officials said.

The fire department reported to the seven-story building on 56-11 94th Street following the first alarm that went off around 6.30 p.m., a spokesman for the FDNY said. Around 200 firefighters were at the scene after the fifth alarm went off around 7.10 p.m.

The fire was contained around 10 p.m. Tuesday.

No cause for the fire was determined, and "miraculously," nobody among the building's residents was injured, Chief of Department of the FDNY James Leonard said.

The firefighters sustained minor injuries.

"One of the things we used here, for the second time, was our drone, which was highly effective for our strategy and our tactics," Leonard said. First of the department's drones, equipped with high-definition and infrared cameras, was deployed last month during a four-alarm fire in The Bronx.

FDNY is working with the Red Cross and NYC Office of Emergency Management to help the people affected by the fire.

Fire marshals were still investigating the cause of the fire as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Witnesses tweeted about the fire.