Oct 30, 2007 4:24 pm US/Eastern
Single Mom, 2 Children Killed In Queens Fire
Correction Department Captain Mourned By Colleagues
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A single mother and her two children died in a house fire and partial building collapse in Rosedale.
CBS
A single mother and her two young children died after a fire tore through their home in Queens early Tuesday morning.
Police identified the victims as Rene Chong, 40, her 10-year-old son Elliot, and her 8-year-old son Noah. All three died inside their home.
"I was banging, banging, banging the door for minutes, screaming for someone to come out of the building, and nobody came," said Florence Balogun, the victims' next door neighbor. "I mean look at it, they are all gone."
More than 140 fire fighters tried to extinguish the flames and rescue the family, but even they had to be evacuated when the back section of the third floor collapsed onto the level below.
As the bodies of the three victims were carried out, friends and family were inconsolable.
"It's extremely challenging and it's coming to grips that we lost three members of our family in one blow," said Rose Rainford Thomas, Ms. Chong's sister.
"I was looking at my phone at a message she sent me, which says a lot about her: 'My heart is with you. Everything will be okay, God's child.' I know she believed in God. There's a God for her, and she's in a better place," said Anastasia Henderson, one of Ms. Chong's co-worker. Ms. Chong was a 20-year veteran and captain in the Corrections Department, and colleagues say she was planning to retire soon and say her children were her life.
"Last week she took them to the circus. A month ago she took them to Bermuda. It was all about her boys. She did everything for them. She worked overtime. Her boys were first and foremost," said Correction Department Captain Anastasia Henderson. Lisa Harris, another Correction Department co-worker, said she would remember her "as a sweet, caring person, and a woman who loved her sons."
Other colleagues talked about an outspoken and always compassionate captain who was in charge of inmates at the Kew Gardens Courthouse.
Ronald Whitfield, the captains' union president, said, "She was a very heartwarming person. She always had something nice to say. It was uplifting," said Ronald Whitefield, the Captains' Union president. Added Corrections Department Chief Valerie Olivern: "She had tremendous command. She could move mountains just with her presence; her character. It is truly a loss for us."
The fire department says the fire was under control by 6:20 a.m. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
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