A raging fire in a Queens Village home left three relatives, including a 2-year-old girl, dead, and two other family members injured, one critically.

The fire broke out a little before 6 a.m. yesterday on the first floor of the residential house at 102-31 216th St. in Queens Village. The fire quickly moved to the second floor, the supervising fire marshal, Randall Wilson, said. It took 130 firefighters to put out the blaze, fire department officials said.

Melvina Shephard, 23, her daughter Alissa, 2, and Melvina’s husband’s mother, Mary Ann Shephard, 46, died in the fire, on the second floor, Mr. Wilson said. Melvina’s husband, Melvin Shephard, was brought to Long Island Jewish Medical Center and was released later in the day, a spokeswoman for the hospital, Christina Verni, said. Another man thought to be a cousin of Melvin Shephard, Yull Shephard, was in critical but stable condition at North Shore University Hospital, the spokeswoman said. Eleven firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries, fire officials said.

Fire officials said the fire did not appear suspect.

“We’re looking at an accidental situation,” Mr. Wilson said, adding that the cause might be somehow related to the electrical wiring to the air-conditioner. Also, he said, “They didn’t have sufficient smoke detectors.”

Yull Shephard had been on the first floor of the house when the fire broke out, Mr. Wilson said. He went up to the second floor, but the fire prevented him from getting very far on the second floor, and he was forced to jump out the window to safety.

Not much was left of the Shephard home. During the course of the investigation, fire officials tossed what remained of the Shephards’ belongings beside the house. There was a chair, a couple of mattresses, half of a black suitcase and a mess of other remnants.

The only other home to suffer damage from the fire was that of the Codringtons family, to the left of the Shephard house.

Windows on three sides of the house were blown out, belongings were charred, and the house reeked from the fire. In the room of Kimberly Codrington, 3, blinds were burned and blown off, and some stuffed animals were burned.

The Codringtons were lucky. Situated only about 10 feet from the Shephards’ home, the Codrington house could have been more severely damaged had the structure not had an aluminum exterior, Glen Rosenbloom, a friend of the Codringtons and a public adjuster, said. The Shephards’ home had a vinyl exterior.

An boy who lives three houses down from the Shephards described the early morning scene.

“I saw smoke,” Roger Williams, 11, said. “I thought it was a barbecue or a kitchen fire.” Then he saw Yull Shephard jump from the window and he heard an explosion.

Two sisters who live nearby described their confusion that morning. “We just actually heard a lot of screams,” Nidda Shafi said. And she, like other neighbors, came running out in her pajamas. “It was so enormous. It’s very scary. A house is one thing; lives are another.” Her sister, Nazish, said, “I thought it was like a scream of joy.” She recalled the Shephards having barbecues, and joining other neighbors in front of their houses to play cards and listen to music.

In the early afternoon yesterday, Monica Codrington was helping her children pack backpacks and small duffel bags for a hotel stay. Mr. Rosenbloom, a friend of the family, advised one of Mrs. Codrington’s sons, Kennard, 11, not to forget his swim trunks. The hotel stay was not part of a planned family vacation or a celebration, but rather an eviction by investigators after the early morning blaze.

The deaths, injuries, and destruction were overwhelming for the Codringtons, particularly for Mrs. Codrington, because, she said of the Shephards, “We’re like family.” She reported that she had been breaking down into tears since morning.

As adjusters questioned her husband, Stanley, Mrs. Codrington continued to gather her children’s belongings for their stay at the hotel.

“I’m still in a state of shock,” Mrs. Codrington said. She was a nanny to Alissa Shephard, watching the little girl from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. “She was supposed to come here this morning,” Mrs. Codrington said. Alissa’s daybed and some of her clothes and toys were left in the Codrington home.

Alissa and Mrs. Codrington’s daughter Kimberly were friends. Alissa, who would have turned 3 next month, could not say “Kimberly,” so she called her friend “Bobby,” Mrs. Codrington said, adding that after seeing a firefighter carry out Alissa’s body, Kimberly insisted, “Alissa’s going to wake up from the fire.”