Fire Kills One Adult, Two Children in Crown Heights

NEW YORK (1010 WINS)  -- Two toddlers and a man died after a blaze tore through their six-story building Wednesday afternoon.

The fire broke out in the top floor of the Crown Heights residence about 12:30 p.m. Firefighters were on the scene minutes later and had it under control by 1 p.m. The fire department said the blaze apparently started in the bedroom, but the cause was under investigation.


Al Jones reports

The victims were a 2-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and a 43-year-old man, believed to be their father. They were transported to an area hospital where they later died, police said. Their names have not been released.

About 75 firefighters responded to the blaze. Horrified neighbors watched as firefighters brought out the children.

``When they brought the first child out, the child was limp -- it looked like a rag,'' Chaquama Carr, 34, told the Daily News.

Questions are being posed as to whether the Fire Department's response time was a factor in the triple-fatal fire.

Jim Slevin, Vice President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, tells 1010 WINS they believe firefighters were initially sent to the wrong address. Apparently firefighters arrived at the incorrect address within three minutes but did not reach the fire until seven minutes and 40 seconds into the incident.

Slevin says this is another issue in a litany of problems with the recently installed Unified Call Taking System.

The FDNY disputes the Union claims saying firefighters did not respond to a wrong address but to the location provided by two calls to 911.

The FDNY says the units learned at the arrival of the callers' location that the fire was around the corner and immediately proceeded to that location.