23 Firefighters Injured In 6-Alarm Brooklyn Blaze

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23 Firefighters Injured In 6-Alarm Brooklyn Blaze

Top Floor Of 6-Story Building Burned; 250 Firefighters Called In To Battle The Flames

WCBSTV 8/1/2008

The six-alarm fire that lit up Brooklyn on Friday night took hours to put out. In the end it destroyed the top floor of the six-story building and put several firefighters in the hospital.

In all, 23 firefighters were injured fighting the blaze, but all of the injuries were considered minor.

Chopper 2 HD was over the scene just after 6 p.m. as smoke billowed out the occupied residential structure in the Flatbush section of the borough.

"I'm looking up like this. I'm shocked, I'm stunned," one resident said.

The fire up above burned for some time before residents of the residential building knew anything was wrong. It ripped through five apartments on the top floor and threatened to take the entire roof as firefighters got to work.

"In the early moments we were trying to contain the fire to one side of the building and what they saw from the helicopters was firefighters up on the roof cutting holes to relieve the smoke," FDNY Assistant Chief James Pfeifer said.

That worked, as did the evacuation of all 84 units in a thickening smoke.

"Yeah, it's very deep black on the B side," evacuee Victor Boakye said.

As the sun went down you got a feel for the size of the response on Lincoln Road. At least 250 firefighters were called in to fight the six-alarm blaze.

Many of the residents just sat on the curb in the summer heat, unsure what to do next. A few succumbed to uncertain despair.

"It's really hard to just lose everything that you had," Audrey Sinclair said.

A shelter was set up at a nearby school. Community leaders want to keep the displaced close.

"Once they evaluated the premises and deemed it safe to go back we can move them back and forth pretty safely," community organizer Richard Green said.

There's no telling how long that will be, although the good news outweighed the bad in Brooklyn on Friday night.

"At least we're all alive and I don't think anyone got hurt," Sinclair said.

Fire officials said two civilians were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

The fire was brought under control at around 8:15 p.m.