News

Brooklyn blaze displaces dozens

Saturday, April 22, 2006

By Carolina Tarazona

(Crown Heights-WABC, April 22, 2006) (WABC) -- It was an inferno in Brooklyn Saturday morning. A five-alarm fire broke out around 3:00 a.m. near the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Rochester Avenue in Crown Heights.

Eyewitness News' Carolina Tarazona joins us with the latest.

It was still an active scene in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn at about 7:00 a.m. Saturday. The FDNY and Red Cross were still there. Eastern Parkway between Rochester and Buffalo Avenues was shut down.

Officials say the fire broke out at about 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Flames began shooting out of the top floor of the six story building. Investigators believe the fire began in an elevator shaft, but the exact cause is still under investigation. It took nearly 200 firefighters to bring the blaze under control.

More than a dozen families lived in the building which was evacuated immediately. Residents surveying the aftermath of the flames Saturday morning expressed shock.

"There was fire in the elevator and it spread right up across the roof," one resident said.

No residents were injured in the blaze. However, eight firefighters suffered minor injuries. They were treated at local hospitals.

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