Two people jumped from a sixth-floor apartment in a bid to save themselves from the smoke and flames that consumed a Brooklyn residential building on Monday, according to FDNY officials.
The fire ignited in the Rockaway Parkway apartment building near Winthrop St. in Brownsville around 2 p.m., sending more than 60 firefighters and paramedics rushing to the scene, FDNY Department Chief Jim Carney told reporters at the scene.
Rescuers arrived to find two occupants of the burning unit had braved the more than 50-foot plunge from the apartment’s sixth-floor window to the street moments before they arrived, and paramedics immediately began treating both victims. They were rushed to area hospitals in critical condition, Carney said.
Smoke-eaters managed to keep the fire contained to the apartment where it ignited and paramedics treated two other occupants, including one who was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, according to the chief.
The fourth survivor did not require additional treatment, Carney said.
He noted that firefighters arrived on the scene five minutes after the initial 911 call was processed, and stated that the two jumpers may have escaped the blaze with milder injuries if they had waited for rescue.
“They took it into their own hands,” said Carney. “It would have been better probably if they did not do that, but … they got out.”
The intensity of Monday’s fire raised suspicions among firefighters, according to Carney, though details were not immediately provided.
The fire marshal will investigate and determine the cause of the blaze, Carney said.