Two women died after an unattended space heater caused a fire in a Brooklyn apartment building early Wednesday morning, police and fire officials said.
The three-alarm fire started on the first floor of the four-story building on Belmont Avenue in East New York at about 1:30 a.m., an FDNY spokesman said.
The women, who were unidentified, were found on the second floor and taken to The Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in critical condition. They were later pronounced dead, according to police.
There were no working smoke alarms in the apartment where the women were found, the FDNY said.
#FDNY members were on scene of a 3-alarm fire earlier this morning, 964 Belmont Ave #Brooklyn. There are 2 civilian fatalities reported, 2 non-life-threatening injuries to civilians, and 1 non-life-threatening injury to a FF pic.twitter.com/NO8eYOhn1t
— FDNY (@FDNY) February 28, 2018
“They had a smoke alarm, but the smoke alarm was not working,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
Two other civilians and one firefighter had nonlife-threatening injuries, the FDNY said.
Nearly 140 fire personnel were at the scene and the blaze was under control at about 3:40 a.m., the FDNY said.
The Red Cross was at the scene assisting displaced residents.
