Ditmas Park Fire Ignited by AC Unit: Witness

DITMAS PARK, BROOKLYN — A frightening third-floor fire in the four-story apartment building at 708 Ocean Ave. was apparently sparked by an exploding air-conditioning unit around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, a nearby resident told Patch.

"Our neighbor across the hall and my roommate saw the fire from a window shooting out of the AC unit, igniting the curtains/window coverings," Jonathan Taylor, a local photographer, wrote in a message to Patch.

One online listing calls the property that caught fire Wednesday afternoon a "charming prewar elevator building" with "a majestic lobby with marble accents and high ceilings."

The building is located right across the street from the stately old St. Mark's United Methodist Church, and just a couple blocks from the neighborhood's beloved Kings Theatre.

It took 60 firefighters around half an hour to extinguish the blaze Wednesday, according to the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY).

An FDNY spokesman could not immediately provide info on the origin of the fire.

The apparent AC-unit fire was the "scariest thing in the world to come home to when your building next door looks identical," Taylor wrote online.

Photo and video courtesy of Jonathan Taylor