A 92-year-old woman was killed in a fire at her Queens home Monday, authorities said.
The blaze began in the kitchen of Maria Tchinkel’s home on Himrod Street in Ridgewood at around 10:30 a.m., trapping her in a rear bedroom, fire officials said.
“I looked outside and saw, across the street, big flames shooting out of the side window facing the alleyway,” said a neighbor, Scott Byhoff, 32.
“Firemen came and start smashing the windows.”
Firefighters battled the flames before eventually reaching the elderly victim, who was barely clinging to life when she was taken to Wyckoff Hospital, officials said.
“It looked like she was breathing originally, because they weren’t taking her out with urgency at first,” Byhoff added. “She had soot all over her.”
Tchinkel died a short time later.
“She’s an older woman, a nice lady,” Byhoff said sadly.
“She sometimes borrows salt from me to salt her sidewalk.”
Battalion Chief Philip Tufano said Tchinkel was in bad shape when firefighters pulled her from the
burning house and tried to revive her.
“We had an elderly victim trapped in her rear bedroom,” Tufano said
“She was in cardiac arrest. They were giving her CPR here.”Two other people were hospitalized and treated for smoke inhalation but their injuries were less serious, officials said.