PARK SLOPE — City Councilman Brad Lander is asking locals to pitch in with housing and assistance for families displaced by a devastating fire on Prospect Park West.
The three-alarm blaze at 8:43 p.m. on Saturday at 88 Prospect Park West completely destroyed four apartments, Lander said Monday. The entire 25-unit building was left without electricity, plumbing and hot water and none of the tenants could return to the building as of early Monday afternoon, Lander said.
Lander asked locals who may be able to provide temporary housing to the displaced families to step forward. Neighbors who want to make donations to the affected families can contact 8688neighbors@gmail.com, Lander said.
The tenants who lost their apartments are mostly families of two to four people, with some pets, Lander said.
The fire was accidental and started after power was restored to some electrical cables that had recently been replaced, an FDNY spokesman said. When the cables were "re-energized," four fires started almost simultaneously in the building, one in the basement and three others in apartments on the first, second and third floors, according to the FDNY.
It took 138 firefighters almost three hours to put out the fire, the FDNY said.
Three firefighters sustained minor injuries and one tenant, a child, was hospitalized at New York Methodist Hospital for smoke inhalation. Smoke from the fire spread to the immediately adjacent buildings at 86 and 90 Prospect Park West, and they were evacuated temporarily as well, the FDNY spokesman said.
"From the local response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to more recent gestures of solidarity coming out of #GetOrganizedBK, I am grateful to know that this is the kind of community that moves quickly to action in times of need," Lander said in his note to locals.
