By Julian Roberts-Grmela, John Annese
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A 37-year-old man was killed and a woman and toddler critically hurt when a fire ripped through their Brooklyn apartment building early Sunday — and FDNY officials say two SUVs parked at fire hydrants hampered their ability to fight the blaze.
Firefighters arrived at the four-story brick building on 80th St. near Sixth Ave. in Bay Ridge about 3:35 a.m. to find flames bursting out of third-floor windows.
“They were able to engage, but for two parked cars on hydrants,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker told reporters Sunday. “I’m begging New Yorkers in all five boroughs, please do not leave your cars on hydrants. Cars parked on hydrants are part of the reason we have the outcome that we have here today.”
The FDNY posted photographs of both SUV on its Instagram profile Sunday.
“This is a fatal fire and there’s no doubt that the cars that were parked on the hydrants have slowed down our members from engaging in firefighting tactics,” Tucker said.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control an hour later. Restaurant Mussels & More is located on the ground floor of the building.
A third-floor resident, awakened by the fire, frantically knocked on neighbors’ doors to alert them to the blaze, according to a woman who lives in the building.
“I think we have to be very thankful with that, because we are alive,” said Nesy Osorio. “The situation was unfortunate for everybody.”
Osorio said she stood outside the burning building, watching as firefighters carried the injured toddler to an ambulance.
Medics rushed the man, a 34-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, police said.
The man could not be saved. His name was not immediately released.
The woman and boy were initially in critical condition but had stabilized by Sunday morning, according to Councilman Justin Brannan.
Osorio, who told the Daily News an older child in the apartment was at a sleepover when the blaze broke out, remembered her neighbor as a quiet and kind veteran.
She praised the FDNY’s quick response but questioned why her neighbors would park in front of fire hydrants.
“They don’t have to do it definitely, because they affect the fast response for the department,” she said. “I think we have to learn to respect the spaces for fire hydrants because in cases, they need the space to work.”
“Seconds count in an emergency and the FDNY is begging New Yorkers in all five boroughs: Please DO NOT block fire hydrants,” Tucker said in a social media post. “There’s no time to waste working around a parked car when lives are on the line.”
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
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