7 Injured, 3 Critically, In East Flatbush, Brooklyn Fire
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Seven people were injured Saturday and three were reported in critical condition when a fire broke out in an East Flatbush, Brooklyn residence.
The all-hands fire broke out Saturday morning in the 3200 block of Clarendon Rd. in Brooklyn, the FDNY said.
The fire broke out around 9:15 a.m. and was brought under control within half an hour, the FDNY told WCBS 880.
The fire was contained to one unit on the second floor of the three-story building, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported. But the door was open, and smoke rushed up to the third floor – trapping people in at least two apartments.
Patricia Lewis was among those who were trapped.
"All I hear was screaming – screaming, 'Fire, get out!' But it was too late. It was too late," Lewis said. "I couldn't run down the stairs. I just had to stay there and wait."
Three people were reported in critical condition in the fire, the FDNY said. One was taken to NewYork Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, the others to Kings County Hospital.
Neighbors said the critically injured victims were a grandmother, a mother and a young girl, Stern reported.
One of the women rushed out onto the fire escape, but she was engulfed in the flames from the fire in the apartment below, Stern reported. She was forced back into the smoky apartment, Stern reported.
She suffered burns and smoke inhalation, Stern reported.
"I heard them screaming, I took my daughter and we came out. (When you came out what did you see? I saw them taking bodies out," neighbor Deborah Boyce said.
The other two critically injured victims suffered smoke inhalation, Stern reported.
Another patient was reported in fair-to-serious condition, and three more in good condition, at Kings County Hospital, the FDNY said.
"All I got to say is thank God I'm alive, thank God me and my daughter are alive," Lewis said.