Arson suspected after nearly a dozen hurt in Brooklyn fire, police say
NEW YORK -- A fire that injured nearly a dozen people overnight in Brooklyn is under investigation as possible arson, police say.
The fire broke out around 2:50 a.m. Tuesday at an apartment building on Evergreen Avenue between Troutman and Jefferson avenues in Bushwick.
The FDNY said 11 people were hurt, including two firefighters. At least one person was seriously injured.
Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the first floor. Crews had the fire under control within an hour.
Witnesses told investigators they saw a man, believed to be in his 50s, possibly start the fire with a flammable substance before running off.
"Light the apartment on fire... I saw him from the first window, and we started calling 911," resident Natasha Vancartier told CBS New York. "You put a lot of lives in danger -- kids, family members, pets. We need justice."
The NYPD said there is a person of interest in the case, but did not give further detail who that is.
Residents describe waking up to smoke
Residents woke up to smoke and first responders evacuating the building.
"It's just crazy that all of this happened. You go to sleep and you don't really think that this is going to happen... It was really scary, I just didn't know how to react," resident Sonya Bailon said. "When we came outside, all of this building was filled with fire, and they were trying to jump out of the windows. There were kids being thrown down."
Juan Garcia said he immediately woke up his family and they got out of their third-floor unit with the help of the firefighters.
"I wake up to the sounds of screaming. I'm like, 'What's going on?'" Garcia said.
Garcia said his mother was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
"They had to take my mother out and my nephew through the ladder," Garcia said.
The Red Cross is helping three households -- totaling seven adults and four children -- find temporary housing and emergency assistance.
"A lot of the families don't have nowhere to stay. We have to go to hotels or wherever they put us," said Vancartier. "I've got six dogs, a chinchilla... All my dogs are outside, but most of my animals are upstairs that I still couldn't get."
The official cause of the fire remains under investigation.