Fire swept through a Brooklyn building today, killing a 33-year-old man and his nephew barely a week after they moved into the apartment, devastated relatives said.
Shawn Monderson, a bus driver who’d become a US citizen just a few weeks ago, and Ceimon Fraser, 12, were trapped when flames erupted in the building on Hancock Street, in Bushwick, just after midnight, relatives and officials said.
“He was excited that he had just become a US citizen,” said Frederick Monderson, the uncle of the dead man and great-uncle of the boy. “It was quite an achievement. As a young working man, he stepped up and did what he had to do for Ceimon. He was like his father.”
He said Shawn Monderson had been looking after Ceimon, a seventh-grader, while his parents remained behind in their native Guyana.
The two had relocated on Oct. 5 to the Hancock Street apartment to be closer to the uncle’s school-bus route.
The great-uncle said the dead man’s father, Clive, was now steeling himself to make a difficult phone call to Guyana to Ceimon’s mother.
“He’s trying to compose himself, but he knows when he calls that she’ll be distraught and likely uncontrollable,” said Frederick Monderson.
Neighbors in the three-story building described being awakened by a loud explosion, then fleeing as flames and smoke devoured the structure.
“I was sleeping, and the next thing I heard was someone screaming, ‘Get the fire department!’ ” said downstairs neighbor William Mitchell, 60. “The house was in total darkness because of the smoke. I jumped through the back window.”
The cause of the fire was under investigation, according to an FDNY spokesman.