BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A man died following an "unusual" apartment building fire on New Year’s Day, the FDNY said.
Michael Floyd, 56, was killed in the fire at 440 Jefferson Ave. near Throop Avenue around 2:30 p.m. after the blaze broke out on the second-floor stairwell landing before spreading to the third and fourth floors, the FDNY said.
Floyd, who lived on the third floor of the four-story building, was found on the third floor and declared dead at the scene, Battalion 57 Chief Edwin Travers said at the scene.
"It was a very heavy fire. It was unusual that it started in between second and third floor staircase it's not a usual place for a fire to start," Travers said.
Two other unidentified adults, a man and woman, were trapped inside the building but were rescued and treated for smoke inhalation at the scene, he said.
First-floor neighbor Marlene Taylor, 66, said she was on the phone with DirectTV when she heard the commotion from the fire.
She added that Floyd, who she said worked as a hospital security guard, was the brother of one of the other tenants.
“I saw him New Year’s Eve," Taylor said of the victim. "He said to me, 'Happy New Year, if I don’t see you. And that was it."
Another tenant was forced out on the ledge of one of the upper floors by the flames before he was rescued by the FDNY's ladder truck, Taylor said.
Three fightfighters also suffered injuries, with two of transported to a local hospital, but Travers said "it's nothing to worry about."
Fire marshals are currently investigating the incident, the FDNY said.
