One of our dedicated members needs your help. Paramedic Brent Scheidell a member of NYC FIRE DEPT EMS BATTALION 44 has suffered a major loss along with his wife on April
Read the story in the New York Daily News
More than two dozen injured after six-alarm blaze rips through Brooklyn apartment complex
By KERRY BURKE and JOHN ANNESE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |APR 03, 2019 |
FDNY firefighters work to bring a 5-alarm fire under control as it rips through the top floors of an apartment building on 44th Street and Seventh Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Jeff Bachner/for New York Daily News)
A raging six-alarm inferno ripped through a Brooklyn apartment building Wednesday, collapsing the roof and bellowing smoke plumes so thick they were visible from Staten Island.
The blaze broke out on the top floor of a six-story brick apartment building on 44th St. at Seventh Ave. in Sunset Park at about 4:45 p.m.
Adults and children scrambled down fire escapes as the flames gutted the building’s top two floors, as winds gusted to more than 40 mph.
“Due to the conditions, the wind conditions, they were eventually driven off the top floor. Eventually, we pulled out all our firefighters for safety reason,” FDNY Chief of Department John Sudnik said. Firefighters had to use tower ladders to fight the blaze from outside.
“The roof is collapsed. The entire roof is collapsed onto the top floor. The building is severely damaged due to smoke fire and water. It’s uninhabitable at this time.”
Four civilians and 22 firefighters have suffered non life-threatening injuries, FDNY officials said. Seven of those firefighters suffered burns, Sudnik said.
“The hallway was full of smoke, and the firefighters just told us to get back in our apartment. We had to go out through the fire escape,” said Javier Zuniga, 9. “The top floor and the fifth floor were all fire
The youngster was home with his babysitter and other family members in his fourth-floor apartment when a neighbor’s smoke detector started blaring, he said. They all got out, but his two cats, Scratch and Neo, are missing.
“It’s horrible. It’s really beyond words,” Zuniga, 46, said. “Belongings and stuff are just things. I’m just glad my family and kids got out.”
The fire was still burning late Wednesday night. Its cause remains under investigation.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Paramedic Brent Scheidell and his wife. Our member lost everything in this fire. No Donation is too small.