Newsday

One resident and 19 firefighters suffered minor injuries in the blaze, which broke out at the rear of one home and quickly spread across the vinyl siding and into the windows of three other homes in the Cypress Hills section, fire officials said.

Fire Marshal William Law said he had questioned two children who reportedly had been spotted by residents starting a fire behind 672 Jamaica Ave., but he did not call them suspects.

Tim Hinchey, a Fire Department spokesman, said the four-alarm blaze is under investigation "because of the heavy amount of fire on arrival for that time of day."

The fire started at 2:18 p.m. and was brought under control two hours later by more than 160 firefighters. Late last night, firefighters continued to spray water onto the rooftops and upper windows of the three-story buildings.

Edwin Rousell, 53, a disabled veteran, said he was sleeping in his third-floor bedroom at 672 Jamaica Ave. when his dog woke him up. "The house was full of smoke," he said. "I went into the living room and the walls were on fire. Flames were coming at me."

Rousell said he and his dog ran into the street but his eight hamsters and two cats perished in the fire.

"I'm OK that I'm alive, but I am all washed up," Rousell said. "I got no place to go. I got to start all over again."

Paul Collins, a supervisor for the American Red Cross, said eight of the 14 families will be taken to shelters, while the others will move in with relatives.

The heat from the blaze scorched two trees across the street at the Salem Field Cemetery. "The radiant heat from the fire was so intense it radiated to the trees across the street," Law said.