Twin Brooklyn fires send three young kids — who were left alone — 10 firefighters to the hospital
Three young kids left alone in a Brooklyn apartment were seriously hurt Sunday when a fire erupted inside the home — just as a massive blaze engulfed an entire borough block about five miles away, sending 10 firefighters to the hospital, city officials said.
The children — ages four, five and eight — were hospitalized in stable-but-critical condition after the blaze that broke out at about 11 a.m. on the 11th floor of an apartment building on Livonia Avenue near Sackman Street in Brownsville, FDNY officials said.
Authorities found the parents and arrested the father, Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said at an afternoon press briefing.
“The circumstances are under investigation as to why they were home alone,” she said, noting that the apartment had no smoke alarms.
The father, later identified as 37-year-old Anthony Halliburton, was charged with three counts each of abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child, according to police.
Then just before noon, a five-alarm fire broke out in a cluster of nine stores on Lee Avenue in Williamsburg, sending plumes of smoke into the sky and 10 of the city’s Bravest to the hospital.
Each of the firefighters was expected to make a full recovery.
“Everyone, at this time, is stable. Everyone is going to be okay,” Kavanagh told reporters.
“These are both incredibly difficult jobs,” she said of the two fires. “It is a long, hot day, and our thoughts and prayers are both with the parents of these children – as well as thanks to our members for this incredibly difficult work today.”
During the Brownsville fire, firefighters rushed to the 11th floor, broke into the apartment and grabbed the three kids within 12 minutes of receiving the call, John J. Hodgens, chief of department for the FDNY, said at the press conference.
“They got up there, the door was locked,” Hodgens said. “The three children were inside, it was pretty heavy fire condition … so our members had to force the door open, crawl in, they found two of the children in the living room – and one they found right behind the door.”
The kids “were all unconscious,” Hodgens continued.
“So they had to go to work quickly to get them out and get them over to EMS … who gave advanced life-saving care. That’s why they are alive today,” he said.
“It’s amazing that they were able to get up there and do that.”
The fire’s cause is still being investigated, officials said.
In the Lee Avenue fire, firefighters had to force their way into each of the nine stores because many were locked with roll-down gates, Hodgens said.
“We used saws, we cut the gates and we were able to get in,” Hodgens said. “It takes a lot of staffing, a lot of hard work. It’s not an easy task.”
The fire had spread to the area between the ceiling and the roof before the Bravest had even reached the scene, he said.
“They had heavy fire throughout the building by the time they got inside … it was challenging due to the hot weather and the fact that the fire had gained headway before we were able to get water on it.”
The fire was under control by the time the press conference got underway at around 4:30 p.m.
