Fire Sweeps Through Bayside Home, Killing Husband, Wife

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP)  -- A suspicious fire swept through an apartment that appeared not to have smoke detectors on Wednesday, killing a married couple in the city's second fatal blaze in two days, authorities said.


Mona Rivera reports

Detectives were working under the theory that the husband killed his wife and then himself, but they were unsure what role the fire played.

Neighbors reported being awakened by a loud explosion just before the fire broke out on the second floor of a duplex in the residential Oakland Gardens section of Queens around 6:30 a.m. Yong Ho Kim, 52, and his wife, Sun He Kim, 45, were found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene.

``I heard a big bang, like a giant explosion,'' Tishara Riveras, 14, told the Daily News. ``I thought it was a garbage can falling from the sky, but then I heard screaming, lots of screams.''

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but Deputy Assistant Chief John Sudnik said the apartment apparently lacked smoke detectors.

Fire department spokesman Jim Long said the fire -- which was brought under control in less than an hour -- was considered suspicious, and fire marshals were investigating the cause.

The victims' bodies were found in different parts of the apartment, Sudnik said.

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries.

On Tuesday, an extension cord was blamed for a blaze that tore through an apartment building in Manhattan's crowded Chinatown, killing two people and injuring at least 27. The blaze was so fierce it took 180 firefighters to bring it under control.