NY Daily News – December 12, 2014
by Ryan Sit, Jason Molinet
Four people were sent to the hospital early Friday morning after fire ripped through a three-story apartment building in Brooklyn.
Residents were forced to scramble down the fire escape — many in their pajamas — as choking smoke poured from 161 Hendrix St. in East New York. Four station houses responded to the blaze, which started at 1 a.m. and stopped service to the J Train at Fulton St.
Shelby Campbell, 56, said her son Joseph woke her up alarmed by the smell of smoke. They quickly realized the building was on fire, so they climbed out their third-story window and escaped to the street.
As they got to the second floor, the smoke grew intense.
“I couldn’t see anything, the smoke was so thick,” Campbell said. “Thick, black smoke. It was hitting my face and choking me.”
Four people were taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.
Up to 15 people lived in building, according to residents.
Some firefighters stood on the elevated J Train platform to help douse the fire, which could be seen from several blocks away as flames shot through the roof.
Shamel Williams 35, grabbed his pitbull named “Champ” and left in his pajamas.
“We almost passed out from the smoke,” Williams said. “We had to bring the dog and everything down the fire escape.”
Shawn Robertson, 34, who lives on the second floor, was woken up by the smell of smoke. He opened the door to the hallway and saw the smoke billowing through the hall. That’s when he woke his girlfriend and her three kids.
“When I woke up, I opened the door and saw all the smoke,” Robertson said, “that’s when I woke everybody up like, ‘Yo, there’s a fire!’ ”
His girlfriend took the kids down the stairs while Robertson ran to grab his keys and phone. Within seconds the smoke was too thick to see and he climbed out of the window, scaled the building’s window ledge and made his way to the fire escape.
“I went to get my keys and phone and by the time I had them, the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see nothing,” Robertson said.
“I couldn’t get down the staircase. It only took like 15 or 20 seconds and the whole room was full of smoke. It was ridiculous.”
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