Firefighters rescued a 67-year-old man from the basement of a burning Kensington building Wednesday morning.
The blaze broke out on the second floor of 739 E. Ninth St. just after 4 am, and quickly grew into a three-alarm inferno.
First responders arrived to find heavy fire emitting from the century-old two-story brick home, and a partial collapse on the second floor midway into rescue operations pinned two firefighters under rubble. A Firefighter Assist and Search Team helped quickly removed the downed firefighters to a nearby Maimonides Medical Center’s burn unit.
The rescued resident was also taken to Maimonides for treatment.
While the cause of the fire remains to be determined by the city’s fire marshal’s office, one neighbor speculated that residents had a hoarding problem, making the blaze all the more difficult to subdue.
“The hoarding condition in this house was unbearable,” neighbor Tim Seidhback told Brooklyn Paper.
Fire officials confirmed that heavy clutter conditions and the partial collapse contributed to difficulty at the scene.
In all, five firefighters were hurt, according to Fire Department officials, but the extent of their injuries remains unknown at this time.
The fire was placed under control at 7 am, and remains under investigation.
The home, located between Foster Avenue and Avenue H, was first built in 1910, according to property records.
