Man catches fire in Brooklyn explosion; Good Samaritans extinguish him
MIDWOOD -- One person was badly burned in a fire and small explosion in a building in Brooklyn early Tuesday afternoon.
The victim was injured in the fire inside a basement on McDonald Avenue in the Midwood section just before 1:40 p.m. It happened across from a Jewish Seminary and an all-girls school.
A liquid used in connection with smoking hookah ignited, and some sort of explosion happened. A man, believed to be in his 20s, was inside. He possibly rented the lower level for business.
Witnesses said he ran across the street, completely ablaze, before several Good Samaritans jumped in to lend a life-saving hand.
The man's clothing was literally burned off his body, and firefighters were on the scene in minutes. But it was the work of two men -- a truck driver and a businessman -- who sprung into action, got him on the ground and put out the flames.
"I hung up the phone and I started chasing him," passerby Alex Mayer said. "And I'm like, 'Drop and roll! Drop and roll!' I caught up with a half block up, when he finally dropped."
"He dropped on his side to roll, but he was still on fire," the truck driver, Claude, said. "And I took the fire extinguisher out of the truck and I sprayed him...It put the fire out."
The man was taken to Maimonides Medical Center in critical condition with severe burns over roughly 90 percent of his body. He was stabilized and transferred to an area burn unit.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation, but authorities do not believe it to be criminal in nature.
