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by ASHLEY HARRELL and LUIS PEREZ
A Queens couple was killed early Sunday in a roaring fire that destroyed a two-story wood frame house and left five adults and one child homeless, officials said.
The fire, which investigators said may have been intentionally set, began at 7 a.m. at 134-61 Bedell St. in Springfield Gardens, and took 106 firefighters nearly two hours to control, fire officials said.
John McDuffy, 59, and his girlfriend, Lisa Griffin, 40, were found in a basement apartment, fire officials and neighbors said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
The city medical examiner's office said the cause of death would not be known before an autopsy, scheduled for Monday.
Among the survivors was Nina Durham, 70, a cousin of McDuffy who is a grandmother of four. Durham lost her home of 40 years, neighbors said, where she still resided with several siblings, children and grandchildren, neighbors said. All escaped on their own and with no injuries.
The fire began in the basement or first floor of the building, officials said, quickly overtaking the century-old house in a cloud of gray smoke as the season's first blanket of snow fell on the street.
"There's a fire! There's a fire!" screamed Kaisa Durham, 11, waking several of the sleeping relatives.
As firefighters arrived, the first and second floors collapsed, hampering the rescue effort, officials said. Those who made it out scampered across the wet pavement in pajamas and bare feet.
"We lost clothes, books for school, documents ... everything is gone," said Shaday Adebanjo, 17, a high school student who said Nina Durham is her guardian.
Adebanjo said she had no idea how the fire began -- and told as much to police detectives who queried the tenants.
Fire officials would not provide any further details about how they believed the fire was started.
Not much was left of the building Sunday; by midday, as fire officials continued their investigation, a construction crew dispatched by the city Department of Buildings began to dismantle the house.
Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for the city department of buildings, said no previous structural complaints had been logged against the house, leaving the collapse of the house to the fire alone.
Nina Durham was issued a procedural summons for "circumstances beyond the owners' control," Givner said.
McDuffy was remembered as "Steve-O" on Bedell Street, a neighbor known for handing out toys and candy to children.
Neighbors said Griffin had lived in the neighborhood all her life.
Adebanjo spent the day Sunday shopping for new clothes and situating herself in a nearby hotel.
"I'm just glad to make it another day," Adebanjo said.
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