One person is dead and three others, including a toddler, are in critical condition Monday after a fatal fire in Boerum Hill Sunday afternoon.
The blaze broke out on the first floor of the Gowanus Houses NYCHA complex at the corner of Bond and Wyckoff streets just after 4 p.m. on Feb. 4. Firefighters with Ladder Company 105 and Engine Company 226 arrived in just three minutes, FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Duggan said, where they immediately began rescue work on two men, a woman and a two-year-old child.
“Units received multiple phone calls reporting the fire,” Chief Duggan told press at the scene. “The units arrived in three minutes. The engine and truck company found all four victims unconscious and unresponsive in various locations leading to the front door after they forced entry and began searching the fire apartment.”
Firefighters began CPR on the victims before paramedics rushed them to nearby hospitals in critical condition. Due to pre-hospital care, officials told Brooklyn Paper that healthcare workers were able to regain the victims’ pulses and consciousness.
But the fire was deemed fatal on Monday, when authorities announced that the eldest victim — a 67-year-old man – had succumbed to his injuries. A 51-year-old woman, a 60-year-old man and a 2-year-old boy are all in critical condition
A 67-year-old man was pronounced dead. a 51-year-old woman, a 60-year-old man and the young boy all remain in critical condition. Their identities have not yet been released.
A total of 12 units and 65 firefighters used a hose-line and water can to extinguish heavy flames pouring out of a back bedroom.
The fire was placed under control at 4:35 p.m. FDNY fire marshals are investigating the cause.
It was the second fire to break out at a Brooklyn NYCHA complex in just two months — a blaze caused by fireworks displaced dozens of people from Boulevard Houses in East New York on Dec. 31, 2023.
