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by AINSLEY O'CONNELL
A cheap, overloaded extension cord sparked the two-alarm fire in Queens Village Monday that took the lives of three members of an extended African family, fire officials said yesterday.
The cord, which was attached to an air conditioner, did not have the capacity to handle the unit, according to a Fire Department spokesman, who said the cord was snaked under the dining room rug, which was not flame-retardant.
"The cord just gave, and then the rug went," FDNY spokesman Jim Long said.
On Monday there were a dozen family members living in the pale blue, two-story house on 216th Street. Yesterday the house was empty, a graveyard of charred furniture and broken glass.
Family members who returned to the house yesterday were left to sift through the ashes as they grieved for those who were lost in the early morning fire, which claimed the lives of Alissa Shepherd, 2; her mother, Melvina Shepherd, 23; and her grandmother, Mary Ann Shepherd, 46.
"I'm very upset," said one relative, who flew in from Florida yesterday, as he drove away with his family.
Relatives gathered what could be salvaged - a gold watch in a red case, a set of notebooks, a pair of singed khaki pants - as investigators looked on.
When the fire erupted, flames quickly overtook the building, melting the vinyl siding and scorching the house next door, which was blackened on one side.
Nine firefighters were treated and released for minor injuries.
Staff writer Lindsay Faber contributed to this story.
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