Investigators are scouring for clues about what sparked a fast-moving New York City house fire that killed five people, including two young boys and two teenage girls.
The fire broke out Sunday afternoon, on a street full of single-family homes in the middle class neighborhood of Queens Village, a neighborhood near Belmont Park, which hosts the Belmont Stakes, the final leg in horse racing’s Triple Crown.
Television news footage showed flames chewing through the roof of the two-story home and roaring in upstairs rooms of the house as smoke poured from it.
“It was a fire that moved very, very quickly, and the loss was horrendous,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This is the devastation of a family,” he said, adding: “There’s a lot we need to know about what happened here.”
There was no immediate theory on what started the blaze. A burned-out car was found behind one of the homes, and witnesses reported hearing loud booms, but Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro…