NEW YORK — A 9-year-old girl lost her life in a Brooklyn house fire early Friday morning, a tragedy that has the neighborhood reeling.
Firefighters responding to a 5:30 a.m. call about the fire at the three-story building on Howard Avenue in Brownsville found the injured boy on the top floor, who appeared to be suffering the worst damage.
She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead 90 minutes later, police said.
A neighbor, Dr. Burchell Marcus, said her family was distraught.
“In fact, even the neighbors are distraught,” Marcus said, “because we’re a very close community here, a very close family. Everyone looks out for each other.”
Another individual was found on the second floor and is expected to survive.
Video posted to the Citizen app showed angry flames at one point. It escalated to three alarms, with more than 130 firefighters ultimately responding. One suffered a minor injury, authorities said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Crews continued to shut down hotspots throughout the morning, but it was said to be under control in about two hours.
