NYC psychotherapist killed as fire tears through Queens apartment, FDNY says

A longtime psychotherapist who worked with both criminal offenders and trauma survivors was killed after a fire tore through her Queens apartment, the FDNY said Saturday.

Firefighters responding to the blaze inside a six-story apartment building on 71st Ave. near 112th St. in Forest Hills found 64-year-old Faith Rudbarg inside the burning fifth-floor apartment at 8:15 a.m. Friday, FDNY officials said.

EMS rushed her to Northwell Forest Hills Hospital where she died.

Rudbarg, a clinical social worker, has spent the last quarter century caring for trauma survivors and assessing patients coming into city psychiatric emergency rooms, according to her LinkedIn page.

“(I’ve done) extensive research and work with survivors of trauma,” she noted on her page. “This includes, but is not limited to, survivors of genocide, torture, physical/mental/sexual abuse, and military service combat related traumas.”

Neighbors said Rudbarg lived in the Forest Hills apartment building for decades. Over the years, she mostly kept to herself, but was always friendly to her fellow tenants.

“She was a recluse, but a very nice person,” said John Kalas, the building’s manager.

“She was a smart, accomplished woman,” added building super Josephine Cashell. “[She was] friendly with the neighbors.”

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Rudbarg’s ex-husband David Rudbarg, said the psychotherapist had no living family.

The two separated in 1996 after 10 years of marriage. He last spoke to his ex-wife in 2017, he said.

“She did the best she could with the hand she’d been dealt,” David Rudbarg said. “I hope the next part of her journey is as good as it could be for her.”

More than 60 firefighters were called in to douse the blaze, which was snuffed out by 9:20 a.m.

One firefighter was injured battling the blaze and was treated at the scene.

No other injuries were reported, although a handful of families were temporarily displaced from their homes because of water damage, the NYPD said.

FDNY Fire Marshals were trying to determine what sparked the fire Saturday.