{"id":748921,"date":"2026-04-24T03:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/748921\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T03:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:09:26","slug":"fire-rages-at-nyc-church-rebuilt-after-inferno-138-years-ago-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/748921\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire rages at NYC church rebuilt after inferno 138 years ago: photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild photos captured firefighters battling a raging five-alarm fire at historic Queens church, which suffered another devastating inferno over a century ago, on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

The blaze started at a residence attached to the First Reformed Church of Astoria on 12th Street, between 27th Avenue and Main Avenue, around 6:45 p.m., according to the FDNY.<\/p>\n

Firefighters battled a massive 5-alarm fire that started at a residence attached to the First Reformed Church of Astoria. FNTV<\/p>\n

The church suffered another devastating inferno over a century ago. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Roughly 270 firefighters and EMS workers responded to the scene as the flames spread to the church and grew into a 5-alarm fire, fire officials added.<\/p>\n

Photos from the scene captured towering orange flames shooting from the house of worship\u2019s roof and blanketing the street with smoky haze.<\/p>\n

Five firefighters were taken to the hospital in unknown condition, officials said. <\/p>\n

The parish, which was opened in the late 1830s, was damaged by a fire that broke out on Jan. 14, 1888. The building was then razed and rebuilt, according to the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. <\/a><\/p>\n

Smoke-eaters continued to battle the flames late into the night. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe firefighters came at the same time we did. They looked like they were trying to localize the fire, keep it down, then it seemed to spread to the church,\u201d nearby resident Jack told FreedomNewsTV.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it looks like they\u2019ve just been trying to put it out in the church ever since. And it looks like it\u2019s been a bit stubborn. It\u2019s not going away,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Kevin Harris, who identified himself as a former head deacon of the church, said the community is reeling over the extensive damage the house of worship is expected to suffer. <\/p>\n

Roughly 270 firefighters and EMS workers responded to the scene as the flames spread to the church and grew into a 5-alarm fire, fire officials added. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Five firefighters were taken to the hospital while battling the blaze. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts, it hurts my whole family. My sister was just over there. My niece went to this church. My mother went to this church. We have elders \u2026 who went to this church,\u201d Harris said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has heard about this. People got married, baptized. This is our life. We\u2019ve been going here since I moved out here in \u201967.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local leaders advised nearby residents to remain indoors and keep their windows shut. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am in touch with NYCEM about a five-alarm fire at First Reformed Church of Astoria,\u201d Assemblywoman Diana Moreno wrote on X. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople nearby should avoid smoke and close windows. These street closures are in effect: 12th St from Astoria Blvd to 27th Ave and 27th Ave from 8th St to 14th St.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wild photos captured firefighters battling a raging five-alarm fire at historic Queens church, which suffered another devastating inferno…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":748922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,21606,30573,6525,4216,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-748921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-astoria","tag-church","tag-fdny","tag-fires","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116457489673422503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}