In the early hours of this Sunday morning, a tragic fire broke out that claimed the lives of three people and left more than ten injured in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The fire started on the ground floor of a three-story building at 242 Albany Avenue, quickly spreading to the upper levels.
The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) reported that it responded to the emergency call around 4:30 in the morning and treated a total of 17 patients due to the incident. Three people received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at the scene before being taken to hospital for serious injuries but later died.
Although firefighters have not confirmed the names of the victims, several residents of the building identified the three deceased as Mrs. Albertha West, 81, her son Michael West, 58, and her grandson Jamiyl West, 33 years old.
This am, FDNY responded to a 3-alarm fire on 242 Albany Avenue in Bkn. Units arrived and found a 3-story building w/ heavy fire on all 3 floors.
Total of 17 patients, including 3 w/ critical injuries taken from the fire building & 1 FF w/ serious, non-life threatening injuries. pic.twitter.com/a06178gihr— FDNY (@FDNY) November 12, 2023
According to the FDNY, one of the injured patients is a firefighter who was taken to the hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries. The rest of the building’s residents were evaluated for smoke inhalation and discharged.
FDNY Chief John Esposito described the operation as “difficult and dangerous.” He commented that “when you have a heavy fire on multiple floors of a building, it is time-consuming to extinguish. We had to stretch multiple hardlines to each floor. It’s a very dangerous operation for our firefighters. At the same time, while we are trying to extinguish the fire.”
The FDNY reported that the flames were under control at 6:32 a.m. and that the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
