Cigarette Causes Park Slope House Fire, Injures 5

Eric Michael Johnson for The New York Times

Yesterday around 12:15PM, flames blazed through a three story walk-up on President Street between 4th and 5th avenues. Police say the fire was caused by a cigarette placed atop a mattress, and has left an infant and a man in his 20's in critical condition. Three additional occupants are being treated for burns and smoke inhalation. 

The New York Times published a pretty terrifying account of the story yesterday. Here's an excerpt: 

Neighbors on President Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues were alerted to the fire by screaming and the sound of shattering glass, which drew them to their stoops and windows.

Elaine Evelyn, 52, who lives across the street, looked up and saw a man leaning out of a broken third-floor window, his torso bare and bloodied. Fearing he was trying to commit suicide, she said she called 911 and watched as he pulled his legs out and perched for a moment on the windowsill. He was able to reach the next-door neighbor’s glass-topped awning, she said, where he had trouble gaining a foothold because his feet were slippery with his own blood. And then, she said, he began screaming, “Help, help, the baby, the baby!”

The infant baby and an another man in his 20's in the apartment both went into cardiac arrest on the scene, but were resuscitated and taken to Methodist Hospital, where they remain in critical condition.

The house is owned by Serge Alexis, 75, who was in Manhattan for Thanksgiving when the fire broke out. The occupants are his twin granddaughters, Jasmine and Justine Alexis, their boyfriends and Jasmine's baby son. Fire trucks and ambulances responded to the fire 2 minutes and 27 seconds after the 911 call was placed. The fire was extinguished by 12:50PM. 

[Additional stories from Gothamist, The Post and NBC NY]