Several people were hurt, including a firefighter, following a multi-alarm fire that police said was started intentionally early Tuesday morning in a two-story Brooklyn building in Brooklyn.
Firefighters responded to reports of a fire shortly before 5 a.m. on East 95th Street in East Flatbush. The fire reached two alarms -- prompting 25 units of about 106 members to respond in just minutes an attempt to extinguish the blaze.
Within the hour the fire was placed under control at around 5:46 a.m. One firefighter sustained serious burns to the neck but is in stable condition.
Fire officials said that the fire started on the first floor, but an open door allowed the fire to extend through the hallway, stairwell, and up to the second floor.
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Video showed a family trapped by the fire, using the windows as their only way out of the inferno, jumping to the ground below. A mother and three kids, all below the age of 11, escaped with the help from people below and dad from above them.
Later on Tuesday, police arrested a man who they believe set the fire intentionally. Cedric Jacob was charged with eight counts of assault and 1 count of reckless endangerment; arson charges could be filed later. Th 30-year-old is believed to have lived in the building, police said, adding that Jacob has been arrested 19 times before.
