One person is dead and another three, including a toddler, are in critical condition after a fire ripped through part of a public housing building in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Firefighters pulled the four unconscious victims from their first-floor unit at the Gowanus Houses around 4 p.m., the FDNY said.
All of the victims were in cardiac arrest when they were found trapped inside the same unit in the New York City Housing Authority building in Boerum Hill.
The fatal victim, a 67-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. The other victims were a 2-year-old boy, a 51-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man, according to the NYPD.
“It appears they were trying to make their way out when they were overcome,” FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Duggan during a news briefing at the scene.
About 60 firefighters got the blaze under control in about 30 minutes, the FDNY said.
The inferno left the windows on the first level of the six-story building charred and shattered, according to video footage and photos of the aftermath.
The cause of the fire is not yet known as the fire marshal is investigating.
The Gowanus Houses development was built in 1949 and includes 15 different residential buildings across more than 12 acres of property. More than 2,500 residents live on the campus.