Man Plunges Several Stories, 13 Injured In Brooklyn Fire
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A fire in a Brooklyn apartment building injured 13 people Sunday, including a man who apparently plunged to the ground from several stories up.
As CBS 2's Janelle Burrell reported, dramatic cellphone video posted to Instagram captured the man falling from his apartment window as firefighters rushed to save him.
The video shows the 54-year-old man dangling from a bed sheet out of the fifth-story window. Then suddenly, he drops.
The man toppled onto the scaffolding below, even as firefighters tried to get a ladder up to rescue him, Burrell reported.
Neighbor Jordan Alston watched it all from the ground.
"He tried to grab the tree branch, it wasn't strong enough and it was wet. So he just fell on the scaffold," he said.
The fire was reported around 6:30 a.m. on the fourth floor of a six-story apartment building at 75 Bush St., which is part of the Red Hook Houses. It took about a half-hour for firefighters to bring it under control.
The fire started inside Idalia Quinones' apartment, Burrell reported.
"I opened the door to the room and all I see is smoke. So I panicked and I woke my boys up," Quinones said.
Quinones was able to escape to safety with her husband and three sons.
She said her upstairs neighbor, the man seen in the video, almost made it out of his apartment with his son, but went back upstairs for his wife. By then, the thick smoke made it impossible for them to get out.
Firefighters were eventually able to rescue the man and his wife.
The man who fell is expected to survive, Burrell reported. He was taken to Lutheran Medical Center and was listed in critical condition.
The fire department said two firefighters were among those injured.
Several people were treated at the scene, but four people were taken to the hospital. There conditions are unknown.
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