Brooklyn 2-alarm fatal fire may have been electrical

FLATBUSH (WABC) -- A two-alarm fire that killed one person in a building on the 1400 block of Flatbush Avenue above a commercial strip in Brooklyn appears to have been caused by an extension cord.

The cord was being used for a refrigerator and an oil lamp inside an apartment. A 24-year-old man who died in the fire lives in the building.

Including the victim who died, reportedly a 24-year-old man, 17 people were taken to various area hospitals. The man died at New York Community Hospital where he was being treated for smoke inhalation. Of the remaining individuals, two are in critical condition, and 14 are stable.

A FDNY spokeswoman said the fire broke out at 12:38 a.m. Wednesday in the three-story single-room occupancy apartment building, leaving nearly 20 people inside trapped, screaming and scrambling as thick smoke billowed from the windows.

"I was seeing the flames and stuff like that and I was hearing noises, people saying 'help me, help me," said nearby resident Katie Barcoo.

The building has a storefront church on the first floor. The blaze was under control by 1:55 a.m.

Officials said the fire originated on the second floor and swept through the third floor. Everything in the building, the first floor church and the second and third floor apartments, are a total loss.

Many families are now leaning on the Red Cross for temporary shelter, left homeless right in the middle of this week's brutal cold snap.

The victim's identity has not yet been released.

The building received a Buildings Department violation for an illegal subdivision in September.

The violation was issued against the building's owner, Luckner Lorient, because extra partitions were added in the cellar. The complaint was resolved.

There is now a full vacate order issued to the building because of the fire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.