Fire At Brooklyn Home Leaves Seven Children Dead, Two Others In Critical Condition
A fire at Brooklyn home left seven kids dead while leaving two others in critical condition early Saturday morning, according to the New York Daily News.
The seven children, whose ages range from 5- to 15 years-old, died as a result of their injuries from the fire, which reportedly began after a hot plate left in the kitchen malfunctioned. At 12:23 a.m., the house, which is located between Avenue L and Avenue M, caught ablaze.
Early signs show that the fire could have potentially been stopped quicker if not for faulty smoke detectors. FDNY commissioner Daniel Nigro, who was on the scene, reportedly told the Daily News that the smoke detectors were not functioning.
“There was no sign of working smoke detectors on the first or second floors. There is a smoke detector in the basement that was located but we did not see evidence on the first or second floor.”
The only current survivors of the fire are a 45-year-old mother, who was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, and the only surviving child, her 14-year-old daughter. The teenager was taken to Staten Island University Hospital North and is reportedly in critical condition.
Based on the Daily News report, the casualties of the fire were three girls, who were ages were 8, 12, and 15, and four boys, ages were 5, 6, 7, and 11.
Nigro also told CBS Local that this is the worst fire-related tragedy in nearly a decade.
“This is the largest tragedy by fire that the city has had in seven years.”
Neighbors who lived close to the Orthodox Jewish family stated that they could hear the mother screaming and pleading for her children to be saved prior to jumping out of a window of the three-story house. One of those neighbors, Nate Weber, who lives a few doors down from the family, explained what he saw as the firefighters attempted to control the fire.
“I heard the mother yelling, ‘My kids are in there! My kids are in there! Get them out! Get them out!’ The mother was outside. She was burned. She jumped out the window. There’s still blood on the floor. I was standing in front of the house when the smoke just hit me. I saw the smoke and I knew it was bad news. I saw the EMT carrying people on the stretcher. I just turned away. I didn’t want to see that.”
Strangely enough, exactly a month ago, a fire in New Jersey left two children dead in a three-story home.
As of 1:30 a.m., the Daily News confirmed that the fire was under control. There is no update on the conditions of the mother or the daughter at this time.
[Image by Vice Nicastro/New York Daily News]
