Fire strikes same Queen Village block where firefighter was killed

SEVERAL residents were displaced yesterday by an apartment fire in Queen Village on the same Fabric Row block where a firefighter was killed battling a blaze in April.

The fire was reported at 3:13 p.m. in a second-floor apartment above Anh's Custom Tailors and Cleaners at 4th and Catharine streets. Firefighters got the blaze under control at 3:53 p.m.

The fire itself did little damage to the exterior of the building, but heavy smoke forced out residents of the apartments and two nearby homes.

"You could tell the smoke was coming out the windows, but it wasn't like billowing out, it was more like seeping out," described Joseph Cesarine, who owns a building next to the fabric store and lives on the first floor. "I went in probably like 10 minutes later to just grab some things, and my whole apartment was full of smoke."

Mai Sewell said she and her two daughters evacuated their Catharine Street apartment, which is next to the fabric store, when smoke began pouring in through the vents.

"I'm just glad my kids are [OK], even the dog, which she ran back in for," Sewell said referring to one of her daughters. "It could've went another way."

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

On April 6, Capt. Michael Goodwin was killed when he fell through a third-floor roof during a fire at a building that housed Jack B. Fabrics at 4th and Fitzwater streets.

Residents said yesterday's fire brought back eerie memories of the April blaze.

"It was a weird feeling," Cesarine said. "A lot of neighbors and store owners were outside, and we were talking about how that fire just happened and maybe 4th Street's cursed."