Brooklyn House Catches Fire; No Casualties Reported

By Pablo Kay

A Brooklyn neighborhood spared no time in reacting to a sudden fire that broke out in a three-story apartment building on Tuesday as firefighters rushed in from different parts of the borough to assist. Prospect Heights residents were alarmed to see several fire engines rush down smoke-covered Washington Avenue in what turned out to be an incident free of any fatalities.

            “A fire broke out in a bedroom on the second floor of the building but did extend elsewhere,” reported 11^th Division Deputy Fire Chief Clifford. “We don’t know the cause of the fire yet.” The occupants of the apartment, located near the corner of Underhill and Bergen St,. were home at the time but self-evacuated, according to the chief.

            Although the fire appeared to have inflicted little structural damage, firefighters took no chances, arriving promptly and in force. Almost a dozen fire department vehicles bearing nicknames such as “The Bedford Express” and “In the Eye of the Storm” rushed onto the scene within minutes of the fire breaking out. Fire truck Ladder 105 quickly raised one of its men onto the top of building to knock out the windows and check for any possible remaining inhabitants while its counterpart Engine 219 assisted by putting out the fire with its hose.

            As the firefighters made quick work of the small fire, residents young and old alike came together to look on. As the trucks converged on the scene, one woman remarked “These guys mean business…it looks like a fireman’s reunion out here.” Even children from the neighboring Bergen elementary school could be seen with their parents staring at the scene with a mix of fear and admiration for the firefighters. High school science teacher Denise Dixon said she and a friend were about to enter her house across the street when she noticed smoke coming from the second floor.

            “You could tell there was some kind of fire, but all of a sudden we saw smoke billowing out the window,” said Dixon. Before she had time to panic, Dixon said firefighters were already beginning to arrive on the scene.

            The first trucks to arrive, the aforementioned 105 and 219, belong to Brooklyn’s Dean St. firehouse, which lost seven men in the September 11^th attacks. The firemen, however, appeared reluctant to give details about the blaze, much less even give their names. One fireman, who did not want to give out any personal information but whose jacket revealed the last name Stahl, brushed aside questions about the incident, simply saying “everyone’s fine, nothin’ to worry about.”