Fire Claims the Second Floor of "Colliers Mansion"

Twelve fire units and 65 firemen rushed to a four-story brownstone on Madison Street and Nostrand Avenue, after a blaze started on the second floor of what officials termed a “Colliers Mansion,” loosely defined as a hoarder’s dwelling.

The fire started at around 3:00 pm and was contained at 4:13 pm, reported the FDNY.

The building’s four tenants – two adults and two children, a ten-year-old and an eleven-year-old – evacuated with no major injuries. The ten-year-old was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, but was not taken to the hospital.

According to one of the tenants, Louise Coulthurst, the fire started after a spark ignited under a bed. The eleven-year-old first noticed the fire and alerted both of the adults, at which time, they called the fire department and immediately evacuated the building, said Coulthurst.

The children were taken away by EMS to get something to eat. But Coulthurst and the other occupant, Jane Lyons, remained at the scene, shaken, from the freezing temperatures and the shock of what just happened.

“The house burned; not the whole house, but the second floor,” said Lyons, clearly dismayed. Lyons had flown in from Atlanta the day before and was staying with Coulthurst, her childhood friend, for a short visit.

“You see that fur coat right there,” said Lyons, pointing to a black mass of fur barely peeking out from a three-foot-high mound of clothing, furniture and trash. “That was my coat. They had to throw everything out, just like that. So someone was kind enough to let me borrow this coat I’m wearing. But we have no place to stay tonight. We don’t know where we’re going.”

Fire marshals said it is still unclear how the fire started, but they are investigating.