An early-morning blaze tore through a Gravesend apartment building leaving ten injured, including three residents in critical conditions and six firefighters in need of minor treatment.
The fire began around 2:45 a.m. in the top floor of a six-story apartment building on Colby Street. It was contained to one apartment, occupied by two senior citizens. The residents are among those critically injured and being treated for smoke inhalation.
Several ladder companies raced to the scene, taking more than 45 minutes to battle the blaze. Residents of the building scrambled to evacuate, using the windows of first-floor apartments to exit to the courtyard. At least one man on a lower-level was reported to be in cardiac arrest.
The injured were taken to Lutheran Medical Center and Coney Island Hospital for treatment. No word on their condition.
NYPD, FDNY and EMS vehicles planted themselves on the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue Z this morning around 8:45 a.m. Though their flashing lights remained on, no emergency could be seen.
Officers in the NYPD car and the EMS crew were both filling out reports, while the firefighters were not in sight. An officer in the car wouldn’t say what the incident was but noted, “Nothing major.”
Commuters at the bus stop said they did not know what the commotion was about, and whatever the incident was did not appear to delay trains.
Nostrand Avenue and Avenue Y was blocked off for about 45 minutes this afternoon, after a car burst into flames in the middle of the intersection.
The car was traveling southbound in the left-hand lane at around 2:15 p.m. After pulling into the intersection, the driver said she noticed smoke coming from the hood of the car, and the flames coming out of the sides. She jumped out of the car and watched from the sidewalk as flames engulfed the vehicle.
No one was harmed in the incident, which she said was probably caused by an electrical problem.
When we spoke to her, she waited for her husband to pick her up and joked about the incident.
“I don’t care,” she said. “It’s just a car. No one got hurt. I got out. It’s just a car and I don’t care.”
Firefighters put out the flames while police shut down Nostrand Avenue for a half block in each direction. A police truck came and towed the remains away, leading to the full reopening of the avenue by 3:00 p.m.
A fire at a grocery store and residence broke out in Brighton Beach early this morning. FDNY trucks arrived at Neptune Avenue and Brighton 5th Street around 6:00 a.m. to put out the flames. A reader, who sent these photos, said it looked like the fire started in the basement or the ground-level floor. The reader added that something unusual must have been burning, because there was a stench that seemed to be more than smoke.
We’ll update with more information as it becomes available.
A car and FDNY truck collided on Kings Highway and East 12th Street just minutes ago. A reader turned up on the scene shortly after the accident and couldn’t tell us who hit whom, or if the truck was on its way to an emergency. He said there appeared to be liquid on the ground. Looks like everyone involved is safe and sound.
UPDATE: We’re told this accident is causing major traffic backups.
Got any additional information or photos? Send it to us!
A reader sent in the above photo, and we received a couple of tips regarding a transformer fire at East 19th Street and Avenue W. It appears the fire has caused a power outage for the nearby apartment building, 1900 Avenue W. The same corner had a transformer fire just two days ago, according to another reader who sent us the tip and photo at the time.
A car exiting the Belt Parkway at Exit 8 lost control, slamming into a parked car before exploding into flames, according to police on the scene .
The accident occurred on Friday, June 18, at around 7:40 p.m. The driver, a woman, was taken to the hospital for minor injuries. She managed to escape the car before it ignited, witnesses said.
Police on the scene weren’t entirely sure how the accident happened, but they speculated that she took to the exit ramp too quickly and lost control of her vehicle. Her car ended up on the sidewalk, smashing the parked vehicle into the fence of the old Verizon lot. It then erupted into flames in front of the stairs for the East 14th Street footbridge over the Belt Parkway. No bystanders were harmed.
The owner of the parked car was saved by chance, according to the officer. He had just gotten out of the car minutes before, and was a block away helping his son who had been in a minor car accident. He can be seen in a blue shirt in the video after the jump.
Rains caused an underground electrical transformer to blow out on Emmons Avenue yesterday at around 4:00 p.m. Emergency crews worked to shut power off, extinguish the fire, and repair the damage in front of the landmarked Lundy’s building. There was no electrical service outage to anyone in the area, and no one was hurt.
At around the 40 second mark in the video above, you can hear rumbling. The pops and thuds were coming from the underground power line, crackling with electricity reacting to the water. Con Edison shut the power off to the transformer and the FDNY and other emergency response teams went about their work.
Thank you to the handful of readers that tipped us off to the incident.
After we reported about yesterday afternoon’s house fire at 2798 Ford Street, a reader sent in this video shot by a neighbor. It shows the house engulfed in smoke as firefighters arrive on the scene. At about the one minute mark, flames burst out the side window while firefighters prepared hoses and geared up to enter the house. It looks like a neighbor can be seen standing near the corner of the house, spraying the home next door with a garden hose to keep the fire from spreading. Thank goodness no one was hurt during this.
One family’s Memorial Day was tinged with tragedy after a fire swept through their home Monday afternoon. The incident occurred around 5:00 p.m. at 2798 Ford Street (another source says 2796 Ford Street). It appeared to our tipster that no one was hurt, and the FDNY was busy inspecting the home and sawing out windows. If you have any additional info, please add it in the comments.
