BROOKLYN — A former florist died after leaping from his burning third-story apartment onto a box spring during a Flatbush fire that injured five other people Monday morning, his daughter said.
"It was unbearable. I'm just trying to cope with everything," said his grieving daughter.
Tony Celestin, 59, was in his top-floor apartment, which he shared with another man, a mother and her son, at 2126 Nostrand Ave., near Flatbush Avenue, when flames erupted there about 1:48 a.m., witnesses and FDNY officials said.
Celestin started knocking on his roommates doors and then he and a man he lived with, Jean-B Maurice, 56, bolted for the windows and leapt out, Maurice said.
"I saw fire coming from the living room. I had to jump. I was scared. I was scared, but I said, 'I don't have any choice,'" said Maurice who jumped onto an adjacent awning.
Celestin, who roommates said was an avid Knicks fan and florist for 15 years, jumped down to a box spring that was lying on the sidewalk outside the building, witnesses said.
"The old man was laying on the box spring, bleeding and broken up," said Charles Andre, 40, who works nearby.
"He was still conscious. He was screaming, 'I can't move!' It was terrible."
Graphic footage posted to a teenager's Facebook account show's the teen ushering people from an adjacent building to safety and then Celestin writhing in pain on the box spring as flames shoot from the windows above.
"Don't get up! Just relax!" someone urges Celestin just as medical crews start tending to him.
Celestin was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, an FDNY spokesman said. It was not immediately clear why he wasn't taken to a nearer hospital.
"I didn't even recognize him. They had a tube inside of him so he could breathe," said Manushka Celestin, the eldest of his two daughters, 26 and 23. He also had a 25-year-old son.
Celestin was later pronounced dead, his daughter said.
Meanwhile, the mother who lived on the third floor grabbed her 8-year-old son and ran to the rear of the apartment.
"I kicked the air conditioner out. I put one leg in, one leg out. I grabbed onto my baby. I waited in the back until [firefighters] came," said the woman, who declined to give her name.
Firefighters eventually came. They got Maurice from the awning, wrapped him in a blue blanket and gave him medical treatment, witnesses said.
In all, two people suffered serious injuries but were listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital, officials said.
Three others were treated for minor injuries at the same hospital, officials said.
The fire was brought under control about 2:16 a.m., officials said.
The fire marshals will determine what sparked the flames, but a spokesman said it did not appear suspicious.
Celestin was from Haiti and devoted to TMC Florist, the ground-floor flower shop where he worked for 15 years until it became a Golden Krust, family and friends said.
"That was his second wife. He loved it," his daughter said.
Celestine had seen his daughter hours before the fire to watch the women's World Cup final.
"He looked spiffy. He had on a white fedora. I gave him [baked ziti]. He said, 'Thank you. I'll see you later,'" she said.
She said she'll forever remember him for the noble efforts he took alerting his roommates to the fire.
"To me, he's a hero. He's this area's Superman," she said.
Celestin's family was still arranging his funeral Monday afternoon.
Neighbors fondly remembered how Celestin would help those around him.
"He'd walk to Manhattan to save your life. That's the kind of guy he was," said his roommate.
"He was a very sweet guy, a very pleasant guy," she added.
Maurice said this is the second fire to scorch his home in less than a year, with another blaze erupting there on Nov. 2, 2014.
"I don't know what I have left," he said.
