NY Daily News

With sirens wailing outside and fire engines lined up along Bell Blvd., the tenants had no time to worry about losing most of their possessions in the blaze. Their main priority was caring for each other.

"They were looking for me; I was looking for them," Murdocca said. "It was the biggest confusion I've seen for a long time."

Murdocca and about 10 other residents were left homeless after a fire ripped through their three-story building this week, forcing tenants onto the street and destroying a ground-floor furniture store that had been in operation for more than three decades.

Sixteen firefighters suffered minor injuries putting out the flames; no civilians were seriously hurt, said a Fire Department spokesman, who added that the cause of the blaze is under investigation.

The three-alarm blaze broke out around 1 a.m. inside Paradise Furniture, near the corner of Bell Blvd. and 42nd Ave., officials said. Flames spread to a neighboring Carvel, a bakery/cafe and about 10 apartments above the three businesses.

By the time firefighters got the blaze under control at 3a.m., the furniture store had been gutted.

Later, curious passersby stopped to look through broken windows at the store's charred merchandise.

"It's a very, very tough transition," Paradise Furniture owner Bruce Davis told the Daily News. "We're ... in the process now of opening a temporary location on the next block."

At Carvel, the counters were covered with cloth that only partially hid the damage. And in the apartments, parts of the ceilings appeared to have burned away.

Eileen and Kevin Flaherty, who said they have lived in Bayside for 40 years, walked to the furniture store on Monday after Eileen heard radio reports about the blaze.

"I was going to buy a bed there," she said, watching as workers boarded up the store. Her husband attempted to lighten the somber mood.

"Maybe," he quipped, "they'll have a fire sale."