An elderly woman died after a fire broke out in an apartment in a NYCHA building in Queens on Thursday morning, officials said, the second fatal fire to rip through a NYCHA home in as many weeks.
The woman, believed to be in her 80s, was found lying on her back on the couch and badly burned, police said. The blaze broke out just before 8:15 a.m. in a 10th-floor apartment of a 13-story building on Beach 40 Street in Edgemere, an FDNY spokesman said.
The fire was contained to the apartment and brought under control about a half-hour later, but not before the woman was found dead inside that apartment.
A second person suffered minor injuries but declined medical attention.
The FDNY later identified the cause of the blaze as accidental from smoking. There was a smoke alarm present but it was not operational, fire marshals said.
This is the second fatal fire in as many weeks inside a NYCHA apartment. Last week, six family members, including four young children, were killed after a fire tore through their Harlem apartment. That fire was sparked by a stove left unattended while something was cooking and spread to all six rooms of the apartment, trapping the family in two bedrooms, officials have said.
