Bed-Stuy Sees 10 Fires In Just 11 Days: FDNY

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The fire that broke out inside a Herkimer Street home Thursday morning was not the first firefighters rushed to extinguish in the past week and a half. It wasn't the second or third.

It was the tenth.

The unexplained spate of fires — which began on Jan. 31 and have continued at a steady pace — have displaced 52 neighbors, injured 11 people, and included one fatality, according to officials.

The most recent fire, which broke out about 10:20 a.m. Thursday, was one of three recent and relatively minor blazes on Herkimer Street, Monroe Street and Dewey Place, according to the FDNY.

Those fires were put out relatively quickly and without anyone getting injured, though a total of six families were displaced, according to FDNY and Red Cross officials.

But not all fires in the last week were as minor.

On Monday, it took more than 100 firefighters four hours to extinguish flames in a Gates Avenue building, according to the FDNY.

One firefighter was injured and others discovered a body inside the building, which was under construction, according to FDNY and reports. The medical examiner will investigate the person's cause of death, according to the reports.

A Nostrand Avenue building caught fire on Sunday and while no one was injured, six families — a total of 34 people — were displaced by the damage, according to the FDNY and Red Cross.

A Chauncey Street fire on Friday proved more dangerous, officials said.

Three people were hurt and one person displaced when flames erupted in the first floor of the home, officials said.

That fire was one of three in the neighborhood in just a three-hour span that day.

Firefighters also faced two fires on Jefferson Avenue when flames that broke out in one home's basement electrical panel spread up a wall, to the roof and into a neighboring home, according to FDNY officials. The Red Cross helped four families displaced by those fires, according to the organization.

A week earlier, another serious fire on Herkimer Street landed seven people in the hospital and cut power for an entire block. It had been the second recent fire in the building, which had been plagued for weeks by electricity problems given the flames' damage to its electrical room.

Firefighters also battled a blaze on Tompkins Avenue on Feb. 1 where nobody was hurt, according to the FDNY.

Any reasoning for the recent spate of fires remains unclear. The FDNY did not respond to a question about whether any pattern was noticed between the different blazes.

All of the fires were under investigation as of late Wednesday, according to the department.

Patch has also reached out to both the 36th and 40th District's council members about the fires.

The frequent fires come at a time when blazes are more common. Heating, holiday decorations winter storms and candles make the risk of fires elevated during the winter months, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

The organization makes several suggestions for preventing the winter fires, specifically during the holidays.

They also come as fires are at the top of mind for many New Yorkers, given the recent tragedy in the Bronx, where 17 people were killed in a fire caused by a malfunctioning electric space heater. Most recently, several families whose loved ones died or were hurt in the apartment building sued its owners.