Yesterday morning just before 4:30 a.m., a fire broke out in a brownstone on Putnam Aveue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Nine civilians, plus four firefighters (including one whose face was burned), were injured and fire officials say the fire was "suspicious."
The fire started on the top floor and quickly spread. City Room reports, "Residents rushed to open windows where they yelled for help and gasped for air." One firefighter, Richard Myers, said he was about to follow fellow firefighter, Peter Demontreux, into the building when, "the whole room just flashed" and was filled with fire. Myers said that Demontreux emerged with a resident, "I looked through the window at Pete and Pete was on fire... His helmet, his back, the whole room, over his head," and then Demontreux jumped through the window. Other firefighters doused Demontreux with water; he said, "We were all trained for stuff like this, so I didn't panic. I really didn't think about anything besides helping those people."
One resident said the fire was started when someone threw something at the building. 1010 WINS reports, "Police confirm there was a shooting outside the building on Aug. 25, however, they can’t say if it is connected to the fire."
