A fast-moving fire at a Park Slope row house on left five people were injured, including an 8-month-old baby boy and a man who were in cardiac arrest by the time firefighters reached them. Fire department officials say the blaze, which occurred in a three-story walk-up on President Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, was caused by a smoking in bed.
The fire broke out at 12:15 p.m. A neighbor told the NY Times that she "saw a man leaning out of a broken third-floor window, his torso bare and bloodied. Fearing he was trying to commit suicide, she said she called 911 and watched as he pulled his legs out and perched for a moment on the windowsill. He was able to reach the next-door neighbor’s glass-topped awning, she said, where he had trouble gaining a foothold because his feet were slippery with his own blood. And then, she said, he began screaming, 'Help, help, the baby, the baby!'" The Post has a photograph of the man, and spoke to another neighbor, “He was yelling for help. Yelling, ‘There’s a baby in there! There are people stuck in there!’ I grabbed a ladder to try and get him down, but it was too short. Luckily, the firefighters got here quickly."
The News reports, "The blaze began in a bedroom, where a mattress caught fire, a source said. When the occupants tried to move the mattress, the flames spread rapidly, trapping them in the bedroom, one official source said." Fire officials say they were able to get to the fire in 2 minutes 27 seconds after receiving the 911 call. The fire was contained by 12:50 p.m.
The five people in the row house are twin sisters, Jasmine and Justine Alexis, their boyfriends and Jasmine's baby son; they are being treated for smoke inhalation and burns. The home is owned by their grandfather, Serge Alexis, who was at a friend's Thanksgiving in Manhattan. The Times spoke to Alexis, who "felt conflicting emotions — bitterness, resignation and relief," over the fire and his damaged home of 45 years, "These are my granddaughters; I tried to see what I can do for them, and that’s the result... “I wasn’t here, and that’s a grace. I’ve already accepted it."
