The fire marshal is investigating the cause of an all-hands fire that broke out at Breukelen Houses on Friday morning.
The blaze began just after 9:30 a.m. on the first floor of a three-story apartment building on Glenwood Road near East 108th Street in Canarsie, according to the FDNY. Engine Company 257 and Tower Ladder 170 arrived on the scene shortly thereafter to find smoke rising from the apartment’s windows.
A team of about 60 firefighters were able to quickly knock down the main body of the fire, and searches for trapped residents proved negative. The fire was placed under control at 10:12 a.m., and no injuries were reported. It was not immediately clear how severely the fire had damaged the affected apartment.
The FDNY’s fire marshal will investigate the cause of the fire. The New York City Housing Authority did not immediately return a request for comment.
Breukelen Houses — which was built in 1957 and houses more than 1,500 units across 13 low-rise buildings — has long been plagued with maintenance issues. A 2015 report from the City Comptroller found that Breukelen Houses had nearly 900 outstanding work orders and dozens of Department of Buildings violations. In 2019, when federal officials toured the complex, residents showed units with peeling paint, leaky ceilings, mold, and more.
Across the borough, several other NYCHA developments have experienced fires this year. On May 11, a trash chute fire at Albany Houses in Crown Heights left two residents injured, and more than a dozen people were injured in a blaze at Brownsville Houses in March.
