NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Three people were killed and 14 were injured in a three-alarm fire that gutted a three-story Crown Heights brownstone early this morning, the FDNY said.
Officials said the fire, which took place at 242 Albany Avenue near Park Place, broke out around 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning.
It took 90 minutes for firefighters to control the blaze and get the flames put out. It seems that the fire began in the basement, officials said.
Of the 14 injured, one firefighter was seriously injured, but the injuries are not life threatening, the FDNY said.
Six of the victims who were injured lived in neighboring buildings.
Three of the fire victims were critically in cardiac arrest, transported to nearby hospitals and pronounced dead, the FDNY said.
"This was a difficult and dangerous operation. When you have heavy fire on multiple floors of a building, it is time consuming to extinguish. We had to stretch multiple handlines to each floor," Chief of Fire Operations John Esposito said.
"It's a very dangerous operation for our Firefighters. At the same time, while we are trying to extinguish the fire, they're doing searches on the floor with the heavy fire and above that," Esposito continued.
Mayor Eric Adams was on the scene and briefed, and he acknowledged the work of the firefighters on the scene.
"You did not see extensive spreading which is, you know, really amazing," Adams said.
It was not immediately clear what started the fire, and fire marshals are investigating the incident.
