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by Matthew Monks
Eight firefighters were injured battling a two-alarm blaze Monday morning that started in a Mexican grocery store and spread through the rest of the empty, rundown building at 31-16 21st St., a witness and fire official said.
The firemen were taken to area hospitals with minor wounds.
They were among the 25 units that took three hours to tame the blaze, which was reported at 1:34 a.m. after a man working across the street from the three-story, wooden-frame building heard a small explosion inside the store.
It was "like a firecracker ... a small one," said Hamod Ahmed, owner of the Ana Deli & Grocery at 31-13 21st St.
After seeing flames, his co-worker bolted down the block to Engine Co. 262 at 30-89 21st St.
"The Fire Department came fast," Ahmed said, "maybe two minutes."
The fire went to a second alarm at 1:45 a.m., a fire official said.
"They doubled up the units because the fire was big and spread to another building," he said.
He did not know the address of the second building and would not disclose the firefighters' names. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
A total of 106 firefighters responded to the blaze. The injured were treated at Queens Community and Astoria General hospitals.
Con Edison and city Department of Buildings crews worked outside the charred structure all morning, the official said, turning off the gas and electricity.
The portion of the brown-shingled building closest to 31st Road, where the fire started, was caved in. The residential part, which a neighbor said had been vacated two weeks ago, looked gutted with every window broken.
"It's gonna be an eyesore for the neighborhood," said E.H., a volunteer with the Astoria Baptist Church across the street who only gave his initials. "But I suspect it will be readily torn down and replaced."
He speculated that the fire was suspicious because he had recently heard that the building was slated for demolition.
The last residents, a small family, moved out on Sept. 3, he said.
According to the Department of Buildings, the building is owned by the Greenpoint Three LLC, based in Flushing, which could not be reached for comment.
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