The tragic Easter morning house fire in Queens that killed two 4-year-olds and injured three others is believed to have been sparked from one of the children playing with a lighter, officials said.
The fire started at the foot of their grandfather’s bed in his home on Bay 30th Street around 11:51 p.m. Saturday, fire officials said.
The blaze likely broke out when one of the children had been playing with a lighter and accidentally set the bed on fire, police and fire officials said.
That’s when their grandfather, Roy Tinglin, 63, awoke to find the fire quickly spreading through his basement bedroom before desperately trying to grab his three grandchildren.
But half-siblings Jai’Launi and Aniya Tinglin – both 4 – perished in the flames before their grandfather could reach them, police said.
They were pronounced dead at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.
Tinglin did manage to grab Jai’Launi’s twin sister, Lailuni, also 4, and pulled her to safety, but not before suffering burns to his hands and face, as well as smoke inhalation, in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue his other doomed grandchildren.
The three children were visiting their grandparents at the home in the Bayswater section of Far Rockaway when the flames broke out, family members said.
The grandparents were taken to Nassau University Medical Center, along with the children’s aunt, Norda Samuels, 55, and treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Diane Tinglin, 28, stepmom of all three children, could barely hold it together as she described the tragic loss.
“Those were really good kids. All I can I think about now is how he [Jai’Launi] was fine, he was playing in the yard …” said Tinglin, who then broke down into screaming tears.
“Oh my God, I’ve been holding it back all night, trying to be strong! But those kids …”
The children’s distraught father, Mark Tinglin, was said to be inconsolable as he mourned the loss of his children.
“The family is in shock,” said Glenn Thompkins, the deceased children’s uncle. “Mark was able to speak to his father Roy.”
“His father is talking and he is asking for his grandkids,” he added. “There is going to be a lot of prayers and a lot of coming together to get through this.”
Several neighbors described a chaotic scene as firefighters battled smoke and flames and scrambled to try and save the two tots from the inferno.
“It was really heavy smoke, they got the fire out pretty quickly, but the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see much,” said Herman Ojeda, 38, who lives across the street.
“They went in every way they could come; up the front, the back door, the side door. I heard a lot of breaking glass and stuff as they worked their way through.”
After firefighters pulled the tiny, lifeless bodies of Jai’Launi and Aniya from the house, they began screaming for EMS workers, who were nowhere to be found.
“The firefighters were saying, ‘Where is EMS, where is EMS?’” said neighbor Ronda Clark. “He was really upset at the EMTs, all the firefighters were.”
“The firefighters were prompt and doing their job but EMS was not,” she added. “The firefighters were working on the kids and yelling for EMS.”
A video shows a group of angry firefighters shouting down the block at paramedics who leisurely made their way toward the house.
“Stop walking and run!” one can be heard screaming. “Come on let’s go! There’s a f—ing baby not breathing! Hurry up!”
FDNY spokesman Jim Long disputed witnesses claims saying there were no problems with personal during the rescue.
“We did not experience any response or operational issued at this fire,” he said. “All units (EMS and Fire) were dispatched, assigned, and responded within desired, preferred operational response times.”