Six people were killed when a massive fire tore through a Brooklyn home early Thursday, officials said.
A lithium ion battery was found at the scene, but it is not yet clear if it sparked the blaze that broke out on the top floor of the two-story house in Sunset Park at 1:39 a.m., officials said.
Four adults were found dead in the home after the fire was put out on 58th Street near Seventh Avenue. They were badly burned and investigators are still working to identify them.
A man and a woman in their 50s died at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn after being pulled from the burning wood building in cardiac arrest by firefighters.
“This was an intense fast-growing three-alarm fire,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the scene. “It will take a long time for this neighborhood to mourn the neighbors they lost this morning and to recover from this immense grief.”
Four residents were hurt but survived, with one in serious condition while the others suffered minor injuries. Three firefighters and two police officers suffered minor injuries, officials said.
Firefighters arrived on scene in three minutes and 18 seconds but found the basement and both upper floors already consumed by flames. Two residents were trapped by window bars in the rear of the first floor, but firefighters got inside through a back door and rescued them.
“There was heavy fire that they encountered on arrival. People were trapped,” said FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Flynn. “They were able to rescue four people from that building and transport them to local hospitals. Two of those people are still alive and if not for the heroic efforts of our firefighters and EMS personnel they would be deceased as well … They truly are heroes and did save lives here.”
The stairs between the first and second floor partially collapsed.
It took 231 FDNY members just under three hours to bring the fire under control.
Eight neighbors were displaced by the blaze, which spread to the exterior of one neighboring building in a row of 25.
“Upon arrival, we had fire on every floor: cellar, first and second floor. Fire blowing out every window, meeting us at the front door,” said FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods. “Our units moved in very aggressively, getting a hose line on each one of those floors for a very, very quick knockdown. They did a phenomenal job preventing further extension to the adjoining structures.”
The building that burned is made entirely of wood, unlike the brick homes across the street.
Officials at the scene urged New Yorkers to take fire safety seriously and to have a plan.
“What are you going to do when a fire breaks out in your home,” Flynn said. “How will you escape? How will you notify everybody else in the house?”