by Ivan Pereira
Firefighters said they found the body of Renee Chong, 40, on the second floor of her three-story residence at 262-16 149th Ave., covering her boys, Elliot, 9, and Noah, 7, after the fire was put out around 6:16 a.m. Eyewitnesses said Chong was screaming for help from the window on the third floor, which firefighters said partially collapsed onto the second floor minutes later.
"It was terrifying, scary. I saw the flames come out through the window," said neighbor Pam Jutzmore.
A stunned Kendrick Gibson, who rented out a room in the dwelling but had spent the night in Far Rockaway, returned home Tuesday to find a burned-out shell. "I'm lucky I wasn't there," he said.
More than 140 firefighters from over 30 companies responded to the fire. Its cause was under investigation, according to the FDNY.
As firefighters spent the rest of the morning investigating the blaze, which started around 4:55 a.m., dozens of Chong's neighbors, friends, and co-workers watched behind police lines, some turning away with tears in their eyes. Many remembered Chong, who worked for the city's Department of Correction for nearly 20 years, as someone who put her family above everything else.
"She was a beautiful person," said Anastasia Henderson, who worked with Chong at Queens Criminal Court. "She loved her boys. She took them everywhere. It was all about the boys."
Chong's neighbors, many of whom were also corrections officers, said they were not surprised that the single mother tried to save her kids because that was part of her personality.
"If she was living and your life was in danger, she would make sure she got you out in time," said neighbor Taryn Rhabb, a retired corrections officer who also worked with Chong.
The father of Chong's sons could not be reached for comment.
Although Chong's parents lived in Queens, they traveled to the island of Jamaica so that she could be born in her family's native land, according to her mother, Josephine Chong-Beswick, 80, of Queens Village. Chong said her daughter was an obedient girl who worked hard all of her life.
"I told her education first, boyfriends after and that is what she did," she said. "I'm so proud of her."
After attending Francis Lewis HS, Chong went on to earn her bachelor's and master's degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Chong joined the City's Department of Corrections in February 1988 and rose to the rank of captain, according to the Corrections Captains' Association. She had worked at Rikers Island before being transferred to Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens 15 months ago.
Henderson said Chong was a strong officer who could take down a guy "twice her size" but had a gentle heart and would always lighten up any dull day in the office.
"She was very funny. She'd always used to say she was going to marry a rich doctor," she said.
Although Chong was less than four months away from being eligible for retirement from the department, her mother said her daughter was working on being promoted to the rank of assistant deputy warden.
"She was studying for that promotion, but now she's gone," her mother said. "She got the promotion in heaven."
Friends and co-workers also had fond feelings for Elliot and Noah, who they said had inherited their mother's friendly qualities.
"She was raising them to be men," Rhabb said. "They were very well mannered."
Chong's mother told reporters that she would always carry her daughter's achievements in her heart, because she worked hard for her family and community.
"If she wasn't a good person, all of them wouldn't have come back here to see her," she said, referring to the dozens of friends who visited the charred remains of the house. "I was proud of my daughter and her accomplishments."
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