Brooklyn row house fire kills six, injures nine

Six people died and nine were injured in a fire that tore through a two-story row house in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn early Thursday morning.

The city’s fire department reported that the structure was heavily damaged, with flames visible from every window. Kevin Woods, the department’s chief of fire operations, described the scene to reporters, noting that crews were met with fire on every floor when they arrived at the front door.

More than 200 first responders worked to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters used a rear entrance to rescue four people who were trapped behind window bars. A staircase inside the building partially collapsed during the incident. The fire spread to one adjacent row house, and damage was visible on buildings to both sides of the main structure.

Woods said first responders brought the fire under control in approximately three hours. Eight displaced residents were taken to hotels. The injured group included three firefighters and two police officers, who sustained minor injuries. All nine injured individuals were expected to survive, and no names have been released yet.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the event devastating at a news conference. He said it would take a long time for the neighborhood to mourn the neighbors lost and recover from the grief. Fire marshals are still investigating the cause of the blaze, though a lithium-ion battery was found at the scene. It is unknown if the battery started the fire.

The building, constructed in 1915, was part of a block of 25 wood-frame homes. City records indicate a family sold the property to One Golden Sunshine Corp. a few years ago. Complaints filed with the Department of Buildings in 2025 alleged that the basement was being converted into an apartment without permits and that the upper floors were illegally divided into three units instead of two.

Inspectors visited the property several times, with the most recent visit in August, but were unable to gain access. The department closed the complaints without further investigation after multiple unsuccessful entry attempts, a standard protocol according to a 2025 city audit. Inspectors do not have the legal authority to force entry without a warrant.

This incident adds to a year of severe residential fires in the United States. The U.S. Fire Administration reports at least 1,555 deaths in home fires this year. In New York City, more than 400 fires linked to lithium-ion batteries have occurred this year, resulting in at least six deaths and more than 70 injuries. A separate townhome fire in Chicago killed four people on the same day.