A Brooklyn man is dead after an overnight fire that authorities say was set intentionally.
Flames broke out just before 11 p.m. Friday at a multi-story residential building on Monroe Street between Tompkins and Throop avenues in Bed-Stuy, according to the FDNY.
It took firefighters under an hour to get the fire under control. That's when they found a 70-year-old man in a bedroom on the first floor; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Justin Coweld – who lives with his grandmother in the building – says most of his neighbors are seniors.
"So that’s why we panicked so much we thought more about getting the elderly out than getting ourselves out," Coweld said.
He knocked on as many doors as possible, trying to figure out where exactly the fire was coming from.
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"I ran downstairs to my first floor neighbors. I knocked the first door on the left no answer but the handle was hot," he added.
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A 65-year-old woman who was also in the apartment was hurt and treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation.
A law enforcement source told News 4 that the woman was hospitalized, identified by a neighbor as the man's caretaker, is a person of interest in the suspected arson.
The investigation is ongoing.
