A 3-year-old girl and a 60-year-old man were in very critical condition following an early morning fire in Queens today, fire officials said.
The two were in respiratory arrest after the blaze broke out shortly after midnight in their two-story garden apartment on Springfield Boulevard near 141 Avenue in Springfield Gardens.
The man was taken to Jamaica Hospital and the little girl was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital. Four other people were being treated at the scene, fire officials said.
The injured man lived with the little girl's mother, but they were not related, a neighbor said.
The fire broke out in the kitchen on the first floor of the apartment, said a neighbor who didn't want to be identified.
"The mother and her other son jumped to safety, but they couldn't find the little girl," the neighbor said.
"I woke up in the middle of the night and there was smoke everywhere. I could barely breathe," said Islah Hunter, who lives next door.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
