An 85-year-old woman was killed Friday morning when a fire swept through her Brooklyn apartment, authorities said.
FDNY firefighters responding to the 8:15 a.m. blaze along Bedford Ave. in Crown Heights found the woman unresponsive amid heavy clutter in a third-floor unit of the four-story building.
A burned-out mattress was among the debris that was lying on the sidewalk in front of the building.
The victim was not immediately identified, pending family notification.
But a man who said his aunt lived in the building said her apartment appeared to the most heavily damaged.
Fire also damaged a fourth-floor unit.
“That’s her bedroom right there,” said Mario Saint-Laurent, pointing to the rounded front third-story window.
“She was a very independent lady. She always wanted to stay by herself. There was a helper that used to come, a home health aide. This morning the helper called and told us there was a fire, and they wouldn’t let her in.
He said his aunt’s cell phone was not answering, and the landline was not working.
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“I heard it’s too dangerous to get in there, and I can’t identify the body. From what I understand the body is still in there, He said. “Everybody’s calling me because I’m the next of kin, and everybody wants to know what’s going on.”
Saint-Laurent said he sees his aunt about once a month, and was planning to come see her on Friday.
“It’s shocking because she called me [Thursday] afternoon, asking to bring her favorite dish, fried snapper … and that Haitian soda, Cola Lacaye,” he said. “I said, ‘This is expensive. One small bottle is four dollars and 15 cents.’ She said, ‘Oh it’s not that expensive.’ That was like 4 p.m.”
He described his aunt as a proud woman.
“She’s outgoing. She’s independent, she always needs to do things by herself. She’s very loving with the family,” he said.
He said his aunt immigrated to New York City from Port-au-Prince in her late 20s. She met her husband in the city. Saint-Laurant said his uncle died in 2010.
“Her dream is gone,” he said. “She wanted to go back to Haiti. I’m gonna take her back to Haiti for a nice vacation. That’s what she wanted.”
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