By Rebecca Henely
A three-alarm blaze that engulfed a bar on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights around midday last Thursday left eight injured, including six firefighters, the Fire Department said.
“All of a sudden, it caught on fire,” said Sam Novell, 43, the landlord of a nearby building.
The blaze erupted inside La Tasca Tapas Bar & Lounge, at 83-11 Northern Blvd., around 11 a.m., and the FDNY said the fire began on the first floor, where the restaurant is located. It eventually spread to the cockloft, the space in a roof between the ceiling and the rafters, which made it hard to put out and raised the blaze to three alarms, the FDNY said.
“Once a fire gets in there, it becomes more difficult to fight,” FDNY press said in an e-mail.
The department said the cause of the fire was still under investigation. Eight people, six of them firefighters, sustained minor injuries and were taken to Elmhurst Hospital at 79-01 Broadway, FDNY said.
A residential apartment was situated on top of the restaurant. Manuel Chimvay, 40, has lived there four years with his wife and three children.
“It was smoking, there was a lot of smoke,” Chimvay said of the start of the fire.
Chimvay said his possessions seemed fine.
The firefighters closed off Northern Boulevard between 82nd and 86th streets as they brought the blaze under control. FDNY said the fire was contained at 2:13 p.m.
The owner of the restaurant could not be reached.
After the fire was under control, many pedestrians still stopped to look at the burned-out bottom floor of the brick building. Some public school students took pictures of the store as busted out windows and charred furniture lay in front of it with their camera phones.
A friend of the owner, who declined to give his name, said the owner had the bar for at least 10 years.
“We were here last night,” he said. “I would never have imagined anything like this happening.”
The friend said the owner had insurance but called the fire “a shame.”
“He runs a nice establishment,” the friend said. “Never any trouble.”
A Facebook group for the restaurant described it as “Taking the lead in entertainment, at trendy Jackson Heights.” Visitors to the group posted messages of condolence in English and Spanish.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
