1 Dead, 14 Displaced, Several Others Hurt In 2 Brooklyn Fires
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Fires in two Brooklyn neighborhoods early Friday morning claimed the life of one man, left more than a dozen homeless and several other people injured.
A fire broke out around 1 a.m. on the first floor of a three-story residential building on Hendrix Street in the Cypress Hills section of the borough. The flames quickly spread to the other floors and the fire reached four alarms.
Officials Worried About Stability Of Building After Fire
"The fire rapidly expanded throughout the top floor of the building and through the roof," Assistant Fire Chief James Daly told CBS2's Janelle Burrell.
The 14 people inside 161 Hendrix Street woke up to thick smoke.
"I was sleeping and I smelled the smoke and ran outside and saw fire in the building," fire victim Mahendra Singh said.
"Black smoke everywhere; so I woke everybody up and tried to get everybody out so everybody came out through the fire escape and we saw a whole bunch of flames on the second floor going all the way up to the third floor," fire victim Joseph Campbell said. "What was going through my mind was getting everyone out of the building."
Two quick-thinking NYPD officers on patrol in the area were first on the scene and helped some residents escape the burning building, Burrell reported.
The officers climbed the fire escape, rescuing a dog and its owner, as well as an elderly man and three children, Burrell reported.
In total, all 14 people were displaced.
Three other officers arrived shortly thereafter to help with the rescues.
The elevated tracks of the J train next to the building made it challenging for fire crews once they arrived.
With all three floors already engulfed, one of the men almost got trapped just before the roof caved in, Burrell reported.
"[A] firefighter became lost in the heavy smoke condition on the top floor, became disoriented momentarily," Daly said.
As CBS2's Sonia Rincon reported, long after the flames were gone firefighters weres till dousing the hotspots through the windows.
Officials have been worried about the structural integrity of the entire building.
"The whole building might collapse, that's why they moved all the cars," a neighbor said.
The burned out building did collapse on the inside and the city buildings department has ordered it torn down immediately.
J train subway service has been suspended between Crescent Street and Broadway Junction in both directions. Click here for the latest updates. The MTA said that service on the J train will continue to be replaced by a shuttle bus, at least through the weekend.
The area has been cordoned as officials from the Fire Department and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority monitor the situation.
Six residents and one firefighter suffered minor injuries, Burrell reported.
"The fire had started under the stairwell which was their only means of egress out of the building so they suffered some, what I'm told, foot burns and minor burns of that nature," the fire official said.
The families whose Christmas presents burned away with their belongings are now left with no choice but to start over.
"Thank God we're all safe now, that was the main thing," fire vicitm Oscar Cortes said.
Meanwhile, another fire broke out just before 3 a.m. Friday at a 24-story apartment building on West 33rd Street in Coney Island.
Officials said a 31-year-old man died in the blaze, CBS2 reported. Five other people were injured.
Both fires are under investigation.
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