Yesterday morning, a fire broke out in Borough Park, Brooklyn, tearing through a shoe store and the apartments situated above it. The blaze, which escalated to three alarms, led to the evacuation and displacement of over 20 residents, with no reported injuries. According to ABC7NY, the fire originated at Savon Shoes on 13th Avenue at 39th Street around 2 a.m. and swiftly spread to the second floor of the building.
FDNY personnel were challenged to quickly contain the fire due to the store's rear area lacking in windows, which are critical for ventilation and access during such incidents. "The building lacked windows for ventilation purposes, making the fire tougher for our members to fight," FDNY Assistant Chef Kevin Brennan stated in an interview obtained by Brooklyn Paper. The shop contained a significant amount of stock, further complicating the firefighters' efforts to extinguish the fire.
Despite the challenges posed by the lack of ventilatory windows and the intense smoke, more than 125 FDNY personnel diligently worked to bring the fire under control. These firefighters used six hose lines across the building's floors to suppress the flames, and by 3:45 a.m., the fire had been declared under control. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by FDNY Fire Marshals, and as ABC7NY reports, some residents smelled gas and heard an explosion at the time the fire commenced.
Residents affected by the fire have been receiving aid from the American Red Cross. The incident not only displaced 15 adults and five children, it also rendered homeless several pets, including five cats and two birds. One resident described the scene to the Brooklyn Paper: "You couldn’t see the block, that’s how heavy the smoke was. It was like nothing I’d seen before." The Brooklyn Paper also noted that the building has five open violations for failures to file periodic boiler inspections, a detail sure to be part of ongoing safety evaluations as the Department of Buildings' Emergency Response Team assesses the structural stability of the fire-ravaged property.
