The ‘Inside Look At Stephanie Villa Torres, 8-year-old girl dead, two others injured: NYPD’ According to officials, a lithium battery-related house fire in Queens on Saturday morning claimed the life of an 8-year-old girl and critically injured two adults.
Inside Look At Stephanie Villa Torres, 8-year-old girl dead, two others injured: NYPD
Around 7:35 in the morning, a fire started on the third story of a multi-family house on 130th Street in College Point, according to authorities.
Stephanie Villa Torres, the little child, was diagnosed with smoke inhalation and later declared dead at New York Presbyterian Hospital of Queens. Aged 18 and 35, the injured males were transported to Jacobi Medical Center, where their conditions were classified as stable.
The fire was caused by a battery in an e-mobility device, the FDNY reported on Twitter.
“Per #FDNY Fire Marshals the cause of this morning’s fatal all-hands fire at 23-26 130 Street in Queens was accidental, caused by a lithium-ion battery from an e-mobility device,” the FDNY tweeted.
One neighbor came outside after hearing sirens and saw firefighters performing CPR on the girl.
“After I saw that she’s gone, she’s dead, I walked back and I went straight to my three-year-old and five-year-old. I was crying,” the neighbor said.
Another resident of the burned building told The Post, “They’re investigating and that’s all we know,” before declining further comment.
Eduardo Benites, 48, who recently moved to 130th Street, said that around 7:45 in the morning, “I saw a lady calling to the people, saying, ‘Fire fire!’”
“We started hearing screaming and breaking glass,” he said, adding that he could smell smoke in his home.
“It’s pretty sad what happened,” he said. “I lived in Flushing many years, but never saw something like this. The house burning, nobody cares but when a girl dies, people care.”
Alfonso Villa and Jefferson Jimenez, the injured men, were supported by relatives and friends at Jacobi Medical Center.
The mother of the murdered girl, a sobbing woman at Jacobi who was recognized by the girl’s family and friends, waved her hands and said, “Not now,” declining to speak.
According to the FDNY, it took 60 firemen around 45 minutes to put out the fire.
