The four-alarm fire that tore through a house in Elmhurst, Queens, on Monday night was so fierce that the commander ordered firefighters out of the building after one of them fell through a hole in the floor.
But an hour or so later, the Fire Department received word that two people were missing: a mother and her infant daughter, 17 days old, who lived in the basement. Firefighters went back into the basement, through four feet of freezing water and a partial collapse.
“We did locate a deceased adult, a female,” John Esposito, the chief of department, said. “They were unable to locate the child.”
Rescue crews searched the destroyed structure all night and all day Tuesday. On Wednesday, they returned with search dogs and construction equipment.
At 2 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, Chief Esposito said, firefighters found what they feared they might: the lifeless body of the infant, Emma Alcantara. Her mother, Miguelina Alcantara, was 34, the police said.
The fire, which started on the first floor of the house on Dongan Avenue near Broadway, badly damaged two other houses and left about 45 people homeless, said the local city councilman, Shekar Krishnan. Seven residents were injured, one of them critically, along with two firefighters. The cause is still being investigated.
“It is such a heartbreaking situation, just to hear of the death of the mother and her baby, the number of people injured, the families displaced,” Mr. Krishnan said.
The house that burned, a three-story detached structure with white siding, was certified as a two-family residence and did not have a permit for a basement apartment, Mr. Krishnan’s office said. Chief Esposito said there were several dwellings there. It is commonplace in Queens for homes to be divided and subdivided and for basements to be converted into illegal apartments.
“When there are conversions to buildings and they’re chopped up, it is a dangerous operation for us,” Chief Esposito said.
The building that was destroyed and the two others that were damaged were certified for a total of eight apartments, but they housed 14 families, Mr. Krishnan’s office said.
The owner of the building where Ms. Alcantara and her baby died could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Vera Tjoe, 55, who lived in one of the buildings that was damaged, next door to the one that burned down, came back Wednesday night hoping to pick up some of her belongings. She was told she could come back on Thursday.
“We’re so sad,” Ms. Tjoe said, standing next to her younger sister.
Andy Newman writes about New Yorkers facing difficult situations, including homelessness, poverty and mental illness. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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