A Brooklyn family are coming to terms with the heart-breaking loss of a mum and two daughters following a huge house fire in New York.
A mum, 50, and her two daughters, 8 and 10, were killed in an apartment fire on Gates Avenue on Friday, April 28. The children's grandfather collapsed with his son in his arms as he recalled the horrific moment he arrived at the scene.
The fire broke out early Friday morning, April 28, with firefighters being called just after 5am to the four-storey apartment building on Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
A fire had broken out in the third-floor apartment, with officials believing it likely started in the kitchen.
A mum, 50, and her two daughters, eight and 10, died as a result of the fire. They have not yet been named.
The neighbourhood was in shock as the tragic news came out. One man, Robert Carlson, told News 4 how he drove to the building to try and help his son - the husband and father of the girls.
"My granddaughters and daughter-in-law were in the fire, they passed away," he said.
Mr Carlson went on to explain how he grabbed hold of his son, catching him before he collapsed in tears outside the building.
As family members arrived, they provided comfort to each other as best they could.
"Came to look for my family and found out it was my family that got burned in the fire", the woman's cousin reportedly said.
"Beautiful little girls. The little one, she ran track. She was great. And they danced."
Fire Department New York (FDNY) commissioner Laura Kavanagh said firefighters were on the scene in three minutes, but the fire was "very advanced" when they arrived.
Fire crews "passed the fire to get to the rear bedrooms" in order to rescue the three people, said FDNY chief John Sarrocco.
He said firefighters brought them out of the building and along with EMS "performed advanced life support at the scene". They were transported to local hospitals in a critical condition, however they did not survive.
The three were said to have suffered burns along with "smoke inhalation", and were not breathing when crews arrived.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the scene with officials hours after the fire. He said the fire broke out just around a block from his own home.
"It's just a terrible situation, he said. "Our heart goes out to the family."
He also said: "I think the review is going to reveal just how much a mother's love is just extremely intense, as you see what happened here, and it's just really unfortuante."
A neighbour, Darlene Brown-Bezear, said the girls would play hopscotch on the pavement when the weather was nice. Photos from the scene show their last hopscotch chalk drawings littered with glass from broken windows above.
She went on to explain that the girls would come over to her apartment to watch TV. "They were a treasure", she said. "It's gonna be empty."
The mother was described as a loving parent who spent a lot of her free time with the children. Brown-Bezear exaplined how the children's mother never went out on her own, and was always with her children.
"The two girls were so happy," she said. "You could tell they were loved because they were happy.
"She treated them with love and showered them with love. They knew they were loved."
Neighbours have said the mum moved in with her two children less than a year ago. The only survivor was reported to be the family's dog, which was taken in by relatives.
