Firefighters Rescue Man in Brooklyn Fire

Firefighters from Ladder 113 rescued a man from a fire in Brooklyn on Dec. 5.

“They did an excellent job and everything went smoothly,” said Lt. Thomas Kreuzer. “Everyone worked really well together.”

The fire was reported at 10:31 p.m. in a 7‑story building on Fenimore Street.

Lt. Kreuzer said when he and Firefighters Michael Rojas and Robert Papa climbed to the fourth floor, they saw numerous neighbors in the hallway outside the fire apartment. They could see smoke pushing out from under the door, so they told them all to evacuate.

They then forced open the apartment door to search for victims. Inside, they found high heat and smoke conditions that limited visibility.
Lt. Kreuzer and Firefighter Rojas, who recently joined Ladder 113, crawled to the left and Firefighter Papa went straight ahead.

Firefighter John McMorro also went around the block to see the rear of the building and radioed to the members that fire was blowing out a window in the apartment.

When Lt. Kreuzer and Firefighter Rojas reached the end of the hallway, they split up. Soon after, the firefighter found the victim behind a partially closed bedroom door, where the fire was located.

Firefighters Rojas and Papa helped drag the unconscious man, who is in his 40s, to the door, where the members of Engine 310 helped remove him to the street.

Members from the engine company were able to get the fire under control by 10:59 p.m. EMS members transported the victim to New York Presbyterian‑Weill Cornell Medical Center with serious burns.

Fire marshals determined the fire was caused by careless smoking.