A dozen people were injured, two seriously, in a raging fire in East New York on Monday night.
The blaze broke out on the first floor at 683 Sheffield Ave. around 6:30 p.m. At least one person was trapped inside when firefighters arrived on the scene, and one resident of the two-story building was found semi-conscious and rescued by firefighters. Witnesses told Brooklyn Paper that at least one resident had jumped out of a second-story window to escape as the flames spread to the second floor.
Ten victims were transported to local hospitals for treatment, according to the FDNY, and two had serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Sixty firefighters spent more than two hours and battling the blaze — which they brought under control just before 9 p.m. The Department of Buildings issued a full vacate order on the property, citing structural issues from the fire.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. According to city records, the building’s owner, Sheffield Acquisitions Corp., has been slammed with multiple DOB and Department of Housing Preservation and Development violations over the years. An open violation from 2020 notes that the six-unit building was housing more than the legally-allowed number of families, and an unresolved HPD violation from June 2023 notes that one of the first-floor units needed a self-closing fireproof door – and had a broken electrical outlet in the kitchen.
According to additional HPD violations, the building was lacking working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as recently as last summer. The owners of 683 Sheffield Avenue were not immediately available for comment.
