A house fire claimed the life of a grandmother and critically injured a six-year-old girl on Sunday morning in St. Albans, Queens, according to the New York City Fire Department.
Police were called to the house on 202nd Street near 113th Ave. shortly before 8AM. A relative who spoke to reporters identified the woman who died as Joyce Buncom, 95.
Janai Grant told NBC New York that her mother, who is 68, was among the three people found unconcious and unresponsive. They were taken to hosptials, where Buncom was pronounced dead. Grant’s mother was originally listed in critical condition, but is now recovering.
Grant spoke to her mother and daughter, Aylani, late last night, then went back to sleep. She was set to work today in Massapequa. “That’s why (Aylani) was here,” Grant said of her daughter. “She’s always here. She always stays with them. She loves them to death.”
“I’m screaming, crying, yelling, ‘Where’s my daughter? Where’s my daughter?,” Grant recalled as she returned to the home. “I’m trying to hold it together. Like, three of my family members… it’s a lot right now, especially for my daughter,” she said.
“I was dressed waiting for my driver to pick me up to go to church and I see fire coming through,” said neighbor Sylvia Lovelece. “I said ‘what is this? Just like that?’” Lovelece knew Buncom for years, describing her as “a wonderful lady.”
Lovelece recalled the love Buncom had for her grandaughter. “I can’t get over this,” she says.
The Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death, as the FDNY searches for the cause of the fire.
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