by JOHN LAUINGER and ERNIE NASPRETTO
Her hair ablaze, a woman straddled a window ledge and passed three of her grandchildren to safety when fire erupted in their Queens apartment last night but was unable to save her 2-year-old grandson, officials and neighbors said.
Carmen Ospina, 59, was watching her four grandchildren when a fast-moving fire exploded in the living room of their Sunnyside apartment, friends said.
"The grandmother was on fire. Her whole hair was on fire," said Jose Tirado, 51, a longtime family friend and neighbor, adding he heard an explosion and then saw Ospina with at least two of her grandchildren on the narrow ledge.
"She was screaming 'fuego, fuego' [fire, fire]," he said.
Firefighters were able to rescue Ospina and three children - 1-year-old twins Alec and Ana Beliz, and Isiah, 5 - but could not reach Carlos Joel, known as C.J., who was pronounced at the scene, fire officials said.
A neighbor, Debbie Garcia, 33, heard the heartbroken Ospina say, "There's one missing. I barely had enough hands to rescue them."
The children's mother, Jacqueline Ospina-Lopez, 28, had left to go grocery shopping and returned just as firefighters rescued her mother and the three children.
"When they told her one of her kids had died, she passed out cold on the street," said Tirado.
Friends did not have any information relating to the children's father or his whereabouts last night.
The rescued family members were all taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center where they were being treated for nonlife-threatening injuries, fire officials said.
Fire Department spokesman Tony Sclafani said the fire appeared to be an accident, but could not offer specifics.
But one resident speculated that the fire could have started because residents of the five-story apartment house have been boiling water, since the building has been without hot water for three days.
"We told the landlord but he did nothing," said Luis Fernandez, 51.
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