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By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Daily
Firefighters raced to quench an all-hands fire at a Nostrand Avenue apartment building in Flatbush on Tuesday, which sent two residents and one of New York’s Bravest to Kings County Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
Witnesses alerted emergency dispatchers to the blaze between Tilden Avenue and Beverly Road at 11:59 pm, then dozens of firefighters and paramedics converged on the three-story brick inferno.
Carline Pierre was in her apartment with her three girls, nephew, and two cousins, when she smelled smoke coming under the door.
“I smelled it and everybody started running,” said Pierre. “There was a lot of smoke, mister — smoke and fire.”
Pierre declined a trip to Kings County Hospital in order to care for her family, but three people were taken off in ambulances before firefighters were able to douse the blaze about a half hour after they arrived.
But Pierre’s belongings were soaked in the process, and she’s now been left to find a hotel for her family, before she starts picking the pieces.
“It’s not okay,” she said. “Everything’s wet and smells like smoke. Everything was damaged.”
The fire’s cause remains under investigation, according to a spokesman for the FDNY.