#Man describes harrowing escape from deadly Queens house fire

A Queens man who barely escaped a “suspicious” house fire that killed three other tenants is haunted each day since by their terrified cries or help, he told The Post this week.

“My head still plays them screaming for help and me looking at them,” said the shaken former tenant, who recounted that horrible night in Elmhurst.

Moments before his home caught fire on Dec. 19, the man, who asked not to be identified, was jolted awake by a strange noise — and then thrown into darkness.

It was like the sound of a gas burner before it ignites, he recalled.

Next was a crashing boom, and then whatever lights were still on, shut off.

The tenant, who had lived in a room in the 48th Avenue house for two years, smelled smoke when he opened his door — then saw flames shooting from the top of the basement door.

“I put on my boots. I put on my coat as calmly as I could,” he said. He tried to alert others by banging on doors and yelling, “Fire!”

“If (the door) hadn’t created that barrier, I would have had to run through the fire,” he said.

He called 911 as soon as he was out.

“I barely made it out of there alive,” he said.

Three others were trapped inside, two in their rooms as doors to a second floor balcony were locked, blocking a route to safety.

All three were found dead. Authorities have not publicly identified the victims.

The FDNY has yet to determine the cause of the fire. The blaze — now deemed suspicious — is being investigated as a possible arson.

The first floor tenant, who had been paying about $700 a month rent, said he and about half a dozen others living in the Elmhurst home had struggled with new landlords in recent months, claiming they wanted them out of the building — even at one point turning off the utilities.

The tenant had met landlord Eric Chen a couple of times and said in September or October, the landlord asked him how much money he wanted to be paid to move out.

The resident said he didn’t have time to discuss the matter.

After the fire, police and fire marshals asked him what he knew about Chen and what communications he had with him, the tenant said, adding he reported the landlord’s effort to get him out to the authorities.

Authorities showed him a video of someone entering the home’s yard before dawn on Dec. 19 and then walking away 15 to 20 minutes later. He said the man was wearing a black coat. He told police that he could not identity the person in the footage.

A police canine found traces of an accelerant at the property.

Police sources told The Post that traces of accelerant were also found on gloves inside Chen’s car. They seized the SUV as well as computer equipment. The investigation is ongoing but police have not charged Chen, who could not be reached for comment, with a crime.

A neighbor told The Post the building owner wanted to sell the property and was allegedly frustrated by occupants who wouldn’t budge.

The property went into foreclosure last fall and was purchased by an LLC for $1.2 million in February 2020. Chen, 29, of Flushing, is listed in state records as the registered agent.

Gustavo Escubero, 45, who was the super in the building before he left earlier this year, claimed in January 2020 several people would repeatedly come to the house or call tenants in an attempt to get them to move.

“At one point they came and started breaking things,” he said. “We were like warriors fighting to stay in our homes. I was psychologically sick.”

He said he did not know if they represented a bank or the new owners, but a woman he described as being involved at the time gave her name as either Nancy or Alicia.

Escubero took a $1,000 payout and departed in February 2020.

Initial state documents for the LLC, filed on Jan. 2, 2020, list Nancy Xie as the organizer of the corporation. The name of the registered agent was changed to Chen in April 2020. It remains unclear whether Xie was the person Escubero recalled, and whether she was involved with the property at the time of the fire.

Xie could not be reached for comment.

The home has long been riddled with city violations for overcrowding and other issues.

The basement was padlocked and unoccupied at the time of the fire. The city had issued a vacate order for the space to the building’s prior owner after he allegedly divided it into illegal apartments.

At various points, dozens of people had been packed into the three-story residence, according to complaints.

A prospective tenant complained to the city in January 2020 that 60 people lived there. A former resident put the number at about 30.

Many had left after the home was sold in February and the new owners allegedly turned off the heat. The first-floor tenant said the new landlords did not come to collect rent.

City records show 16 complaints were made about a lack of utilities in February and March 2020.

Additional reporting by Isabel Vincent