Man who used wheelchair due to ailments dies in Queens fire, roommate critically hurt 12%
By Nicholas Williams58% Rocco Parascandola54% Leonard Greene72%
6/1/2026, 8:58:13 AM
Topics: Crime And Public Safety
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Hasty Generalization, Anecdotal, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 8.8% saturation with 44 hits. Analysis detected 381 faulty-reasoning hits from 502 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 28.3% and a BS Rank of 12% (19,445 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 88.80% of the article peer group.
A man who died in a Queens apartment building fire had limited mobility due to multiple medical issues and used a wheelchair to get around, his heartbroken sister said Monday.
George Gleixner, 61, died early Monday after the blaze erupted in the second-floor apartment he shared with a roommate on 40th St. near Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside.
“”He was in a wheelchair — he couldn’t walk,” said Gleixner’s sister, Susan Callahan, who lives nearby.
“I got a bunch of phone calls at 3 a.m. to get to the building and that there was a fire at Georgie’s apartment.
I guess the fire was really heavy.
Georgie was engulfed in smoke and flames.
It’s sad.”
The victim’s 60-year-old roommate, who works as the building’s porter, is in critical condition and a firefighter was hurt battling the fire that broke out in the five-story building around 2:35 a.m.
Gleixner and his roommate were rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where Gleixner died.
The firefighter was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Cornell Weill with serious but not life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Callahan said her brother had been beset by a series of medical issues but had insisted on staying in the apartment where they grew up.
“He stayed in rehab.
But he wanted to be home,” she said.
“Who doesn’t want to be home?”
“There were a lot of things,” she added.
“He fell in the bathroom.
The bathroom floor is hard and I think that was the beginning of what was to come.
He had lower body issues.
I worked hard on keeping him in that apartment because we grew up there.
The apartment I grew up in is now gone.”
Things got a little easier for Gleixner after the building’s porter, Jonny Arrascue, 60, moved in with him, Callahan said.
“Jonny was the loveliest man in the world,” she said.
“He is critical.
I don’t want him to be in so much pain.”
“He helped Georgie a lot,” she added.
“We are feeling for him.
He moved in with George because George wanted a roommate and he helped take care of him … He was always pleasant.”
Neighbors said the fire moved quickly.
“I saw the smoke around 2:30 and I called 911 and I was amazed at how fast it progressed,” one resident said.
“I have been in this building for more than 20 years and there has never been a fire.
It’s scary.
That was my first time seeing it up close.”
Property manager Modesta Medrano knew Gleixner’s late parents.
“I’m working here for over 30 years,” Modrano said.
“I know everyone.
His parents occupied that apartment first and when his parents passed away, he took over by rent control.
He was sickly.
He had many issues.
He could hardly move.”
Callahan now hopes to give her brother a proper sendoff.
“He was a good man,” she said.
“He took care of my mother and father before they died.”
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