Three people were killed and four were injured in a fire at an illegally subdivided house in Queens early Saturday morning, according to the New York Times.
Two men died at the scene and a third, who was in cardiac arrest, died at Elmhurst Hospital Center. Rescuers also treated a woman at the scene and transported three critically injured men to the burn unit of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital in Manhattan.
The Queens fire remained under investigation Saturday. Officials reported that it started in the basement, which was split into four bedrooms. The second floor of the building was illegally divided into two units.
Firefighters were initially sent to the wrong address, the New York Times reports, because a 911 operator took down the wrong street from a caller. The mistake was reportedly corrected about two minutes after dispatch.
The mistake prompted a round of recriminations between the Fire Department and the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which has complained about the city's new dispatch system, the newspaper reports.
At the scene, firefighters were delayed from reaching the victims by an obstructed basement door, and had to cut through bars on the basement windows, the New York Times reports.
