Blaze destroys Queens dollar store, 200 firefighters respond

A fast-moving fire destroyed a Queens dollar store Sunday morning, officials said.

The five-alarm inferno erupted inside the one-story Dollar Jackpot on Jamaica Ave. near 107th St. in Richmond Hill just before 7:30 a.m., officials said.

Firefighters arrived within three minutes but quickly needed back up as the fire grew, preventing the smoke-eaters from entering the building.

No one was inside the building when the fire broke out, officials said.

“Our units initially made a very aggressive push to get in to put the fire out, but there was just too much fire for them to handle on arrival,” said FDNY Chief of Department John Sudnik “Commercial fires are very dangerous. There’s a lot of stock in the stores, a lot of combustibles, dangerous conditions for our firefighters. So we pulled them out to a defensive position.”

Adjacent buildings were evacuated. It took 200 firefighters to bring the fire under control about 9:50 a.m. One civilian was injured while firefighters battled the blaze and was taken to Nassau County Medical Center, officials said.

“We evacuated the building to the left the building, to the right and building to the rear,” said Sudnik. “We have approximately 30 to 40 people who are displaced at this time but we anticipate that the adjacent buildings will be able to be re-inhabited at some point.”

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