A 66-year-old Harlem woman died and a Brooklyn resident was in critical condition following two separate fires that occurred within an hour and a half, police and fire officials said Saturday.
Firefighters scrambled to W. 140th St. near Malcolm X Blvd. just before 1 a.m. Saturday as a blaze swept through a fourth-floor apartment in a seven-story apartment building.
A 66-year-old woman was pulled from the apartment. EMS rushed her to Harlem Hospital, but she couldn’t be saved. The woman’s name wasn’t immediately disclosed as police work to track down family members first.
No other injuries were reported.
Firefighters pulled out melted and charred plastic tubs from the apartment as they doused the flames. The tubs, as well as other destroyed furniture and cardboard boxes, were found scattered throughout the hallway and in the alleyway below the apartment’s fourth-floor window.
About an hour earlier, around 11:40 p.m. on Friday, a fire broke out on the third floor of a six-story apartment building on Hawthorne St. near Bedford Ave. in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, FDNY officials said.
Five residents suffered minor injuries escaping the fire. A sixth was rushed to Kings County Hospital in critical condition.
The blaze was put out by 12:20 a.m.
FDNY fire marshals on Saturday were trying to determine the cause of each fire.
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