A mom and her seven kids fled from a fire Friday afternoon in their 12th floor apartment in the Langston Hughes Houses on Sutter Avenue in Brownsville, authorities said
Sioly Ramirez said she and her children age 4 to 13 had just gotten home and were working on their homework in the living room of the four-bedroom flat when her son heard a loud noise.
“My 13-year-old son was going to his room when he heard a noise coming from my daughter’s bedroom. He said it was loud, ‘Boom! Boom!’ “
she said.
“He shouted ‘Mommy! Mommy! Fire! Fire!’ I grabbed the children and ran. I was very scared for my kids, there was lots of smoke. It was fast, it didn’t take a minute. Thank God everybody is OK.”
Ramirez shut the door behind her – which likely prevented the fire from spreading to other apartments in the fireproof, 22-story tower.
Someone called 911 about 4:20 p.m. and flames were shooting from the windows when firefighters arrived
Ramirez and her children were not hurt, but eight other residents suffered minor injuries due to smoke inhalation, authorities said.
The NYPD said officers responding to the 12th floor heard a 57-year-old woman’s screams, crawled on the floor to reach her and then carried her down the stairwell to safety.
Firefighters knocked down the blaze by 5:20 p.m.
Because the building was fireproof, other residents did not need to evacuate, the FDNY said, but several called 911 because of the smoke and were taken from the building by rescue workers.