Two people died after an enormous fire tore through an apartment building in Williamsburg Monday morning, fire officials said.
Smoke continued to pour out of the building as firefighters carried a second body from the debris about three and a half hours after the first grim discovery. The fire broke out just before 2 a.m. after a loud explosion was heard in the area around McCarren Park. Towering flames that shot into the air could be seen for miles around, FDNY Chief James Leonard said.
“All of the sudden there was a boom,” resident Scott Darragh said. “Fire and smoke came out of the blue.”
Leonard called the blaze a “very heavy fire” and said it burned through the three-story building’s second and third floors. The fire also spread to a tenement building adjacent to the first building.
It took about 200 firefighters three hours to get control of the fire.
The identities of the victims have not been released. Police say one is male and one is female.
A woman who lived on the third floor of the building, who asked to be identified as Theresa, said she lost everything in the blaze. She became emotional as she described waking up to smoke and neighbors banging on the door to get her out. She said she was interviewed by the NYPD Arson Squad, who said the fire started on the first floor or somewhere in the backyard.
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Fire officials say two firefighters suffered minor injuries but didn't need hospitalization.
Firefighters also rescued a puppy from the blaze. It was taken to the BARC Shelter at on Wythe Avenue and later reunited with its owner.
The FDNY is investigating what sparked the blaze, including the reports of an explosion.
