House fire in Brooklyn kills 6 people and injures 9 as more than 200 firefighters respond

NEW YORK (AP) — A fire barreled through a two-story home in New York early Thursday, killing six people and injuring nine others, including three firefighters and two police officers, the city's fire department said.

More than 200 first responders quickly got to the fire in the row house in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood. A cause has not been determined yet.

“Upon arrival, we had fire on every floor,” Kevin Woods, the department's chief of fire operations, said at a news conference near the severely charred wood home. “Fire blowing out every window, meeting us at the front door.”

Firefighters rescued four people, getting through a rear entrance in the two-unit home to get to two people who were trapped behind window bars, he said.

The fire, which also damaged an adjoining home, was brought under control in about three hours. Eight neighbors were displaced and were taken to hotels.

“This was a devastating fire,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the news conference. “It will take a long time for this neighborhood to mourn the neighbors they lost this morning and to recover from this immense grief.”

The nine people who were injured were expected to survive, including the three firefighters and two police officers who had minor injuries, the department said. No names have been released.

Fire marshals were investigating. A lithium-ion battery was found at the scene, but it was unknown whether it was related to the cause of the fire, the department said.

The home was built in 1915, according to city property records.

Last week, an e-bike battery fire killed a boy in the Bronx. It is among more than 400 fires in the city that have been linked to lithium-ion batteries this year, leading to at least six deaths and more than 70 injuries, according to fire officials.

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McCormack contributed from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press reporters Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Anthony Izaguirre in New York also contributed.