Mother and 2 daughters, ages 9 and 11, killed in apartment fire in Brooklyn
NEW YORK -- A mother and her two young daughters were killed in an apartment fire in Brooklyn on Friday morning.
FDNY and NYPD confirmed the 48-year-old woman and her daughters, ages 9 and 11, died as a fire swept through their 3rd-floor apartment on Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The victims were later identified as Danielle Havens and her daughters Keslee Miles and Journee Miles.
FDNY fire marshals determined the fire was caused by cooking carelessness.
They say a smoke alarm was not present
Friday afternoon, workers boarded up burnt-out windows on the third and fourth floors. Mayor Eric Adams shared photos of the damage inside Havens' kitchen, where the fire started.
"There's some learning experiences here that we would incorporate based on what we saw inside, but it's really an unfortunate situation," said Adams, who toured the scene with FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.
FDNY responded to the scene in three minutes, but it was too late as Havens and her daughters suffered burns and smoke inhalation. They were rushed to Woodhull Hospital, but did not survive.
Watch: FDNY update on deadly Brooklyn fire
"Our members went to incredibly quick work here getting water on the fire, pulling members out right away," said Kavanagh.
"Losing two children, just our hearts go out to the family, the neighbors, the block," said Adams.
Devastated family members arrived at the scene to comfort each other.
"Came to look for my family and found out it was my family that got burned in the fire," said Havens' cousin. "Beautiful little girls. The little one, she ran track. She was great. And they danced."
One neighbor barely made it out alive.
"If the firemen didn't come get me, me and my cats would be dead," said Darlene Brown-Bezear, who woke up to firefighters breaking down her door at 5 a.m.
Firefighters pulled Brown-Bezear out as thick, black smoke poured from the apartment next door, where Havens and her daughters were.
"The sweetest lady and she always had her two kids. She always had two kids and her dog," said Brown-Bezear through tears.
One of Brown-Bezear's three cats died in the fire.
Other disturbed and heartbroken tenants were glad to be alive, but distraught about their neighbors.
"That's the part that I am struggling with. People died and I am glad we survived, but people still died," a tenant said.
The Red Cross said five people, including two children, need emergency housing, four families need financial assistance and three families need cleaning supplies.
"We are doing everything we can to assist the Fire Department and law enforcement in their investigation of this morning's tragic events and our on-site team is working around the clock to make sure our residents can safely return to their homes as soon as possible," said a spokesperson for C + C Apartment Managers, which is responsible for the property.
Some neighbors said they didn't recall hearing fire alarms go off.
"I mean we should have heard the alarms," said Brown-Bezear.
