Open door fueled fire that injured in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, officials say
BATH BEACH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A hallway darkened by fire and smoke is the aftermath of the flames that tore through a Bath Beach apartment building injuring 16 on Wednesday.
"The fire everywhere. The fire department is everywhere. I was so scared.Don't know what's going on. All I can do is just run away," resident Ibrahim Ahmed said.
The FDNY says the fire started at 6:15 a.m. in a unit on the second floor of the seven-story building on Bay 19th Street and rapidly spread to the second-floor hallway.
That's where firefighters found three victims overcome by smoke: a 5-month old baby, a five-year-old boy and a 42-year-old man who are all now fighting for their lives.
Fire officials blame an open door for the flames and smoke spreading so far, so quickly.
"If you leave the fire door open, that causes all sorts of problems and not for the people in the apartment directly involved, but for their neighbors that were found upstairs. They were the victims we had to transport to the hospital," FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Joe Duggan said.
Heavy smoke filled stairwells too as other residents fought to get out through fire escapes.
"We just grabbed the jackets and clothes so we won't be cold. We went through the back and it was. It was a mess. There's a lot of people," one resident said.
While the damage was mostly contained to the apartments on the lower floors, many residents on higher levels decided to leave as well, as the acrid smell of burnt wood, plastic and more permeated the entire building.
"My heart is pounding right now still, you know. And I have asthma and the smoke does whatever the smoke is in here is like agitating it. So that's why I just came to check on my apartment and just. Just go," resident Mary Reyes said.
The injured children were taken to Maimonides Medical Center to be treated in the pediatric unit, while the adult was taken to Coney Island Hospital.
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