Benjamin Carroll

1 Dead, 8 Hurt as Blazing Fire Rips Through Brooklyn Deli, Apartments

Chopper 4 was first over the scene and showed firefighters racing to douse the flames as charred debris lined the street

What to Know

  • A woman died and several others were badly hurt as a blaze ripped through a building holding a deli and residential apartments early Friday
  • The woman's identity has not been released; 3 other civilians were critically injured. Two civilians and 3 firefighters had minor injuries
  • A cause of the fire is under investigation

A 79-year-old woman died and eight other people were hurt, several of them badly, when a blaze ripped through a Brooklyn building housing a deli and residential apartments early Friday, trapping people on the second floor, authorities say. 

Two men, ages 50 and 54, and an unidentified woman remain in critical condition following the three-alarm Crown Heights blaze on Buffalo Avenue; two other civilians and three firefighters suffered minor injuries.

The deli was closed at the time the fire broke out just before 6 a.m., officials said; firefighters arrived within minutes but smoke and flames had already spread to the residential second floor. The biggest challenge was the confined space, officials said at a news briefing; the victims couldn't move on their own. The woman who died lived on the second floor, but it wasn't clear if the other critically injured people lived on that floor as well. 

Chopper 4 was first over the scene and showed firefighters racing to douse the flames as charred debris lined the street. 

A cause of the fire is under investigation. Fire officials said they did a preliminary search of the building's smoke alarms and found one on the third floor that didn't work, but their canvassing of the area is ongoing. 

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