Two FDNY firefighters went into a burning Brooking building to rescue a trapped resident, and wound up getting trapped themselves after a hoarding situation in the home made the rescue more difficult, fire officials said.
The fire in the home on East Ninth Street in Midwood erupted around 4:15 a.m. and quickly engulfed both the first and second floors, according to officials. The fire soon extended to two buildings next door.
Firefighters battling the flames could be heard describing the "heavy clutter conditions" inside the home. FDNY Squad 1 Captain Jim Kiesling said that there was a man inside the basement who needed help as the fire spread.
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"I started doing the search along the wall, the victim was maybe 15 feet from door. He was unconscious and tangled in a chair," Kiesling said.
Once the victim was helped out of the building, Captain Kiesling went back inside to see if anyone else was trapped — when he became a victim himself. The veteran firefighter was trapped when the ceiling of the first floor collapsed between the wall and the floor, triggering a mayday call.
"Unfortunately where I was, I was between the bottom and the floor, so it flattened me," he said. "The floor was all charcoal and the floor was flaming, so it pinned me to the ground and it was burning me...I was trying to get out, I couldn't."
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He yelled out to other firefighters to hit him with the water line, and he was soon doused with an extinguisher before getting dragged out. The other firefighter who fell in the fiery frenzy at the multi-story home wasn't badly hurt.
Kiesling was at Ground Zero on 9/11 and has helped perform search and rescue operations in Haiti — but said Wednesday's incident was a close call.
"I've been in some collapses before, but I wasn't gonna extricate myself from that," he said.
Kiesling said he suffered second-degree burns on his thighs, foot and calf, but said he was lucky to have made it out alive. Four other firefighters suffered injuries while battling the flames, but all are expected to recover.
The 67-year-old man who was rescued inside was taken to Maimonides Medical Center with serious injuries. Neighbors said he lived alone.
The fire was declared under control within about two hours. The cause of it remains under investigation.
