Chilling new details emerge in fatal Brooklyn fire and about why probe may be stymied
Neighbors of Brooklyn’s deadly weekend blaze described Tuesday hearing the dying gasps of an autistic man killed along with a Bravest — as sources revealed wh🐟y probers may be struggling ove♈r the fire’s cause.
The afternoon fire in Canarsie killed FDNY smoke-eater Timothy Klein and Carlos Richards, the 21-year-old autistic son of a city cop and local nurse wh🌜o lived with his mom in the home.
“As we were running down the stairs, I looked up and saw the smoke coming out of Carlos’ room, and I heard him coughing,” said Sammay Foye, 17, who lives in the home attached to 10826 Avenue N, where the deadly fire broke out.
“I was hoping he was OK, hoping he got out OK,” Foye told The Post.
Foye’s cousin, 11-year-old Jaloni Johnson, said he also heard Richards, who was alone in the home at the time, struggling to breathe in the thick smoke.
“The black smoke was coming out of Carlos’ window, and we heard him coughing, coughing loud,” Jaloni said.
The boy’s grandmother, Phyllis Foye, said she sensed Richards “was frightened.
“He didn’t know what to do,” said Foye, 71. “He was frightened by all the smoke.”
City fire inspectors have still not determined what caused the fire. An FDNY source said that may be at least partly because the home’s second floor collapsed, as well as the frantic search for Klein when he tumbled along with it.
“When a collapse happens, it takes forever to find out [a fire’s cause] because everything’s destroyed,” the source said. “It’s not like you can see a black spot around an outlet.
“They also probably ripped the s–t out of the place just trying to get [Klein] out,” the source said. “Especially with collapses, you can’t really tell” where victims might be.
Klein, 31, the son of a retired city firefighter, had been with the FDNY for six years when he dashed into the burning building and became trapped in the rubble. It took about 20 minutes to get him out, the FDNY source said.
Kle𝓰in was rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Three other firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including one who was released from the hospital Tuesday after narrowly🎀 escaping wit🅺h his life by jumping out a window.
R🍬ichards remained unaccounted for after firefighters doused the flames. His body was later found in the rubble.
The FDNY source said another f🌃irefighter ran out of the house engulfed in flames.
“He was just smoldering,” the source𓄧 s🐎aid. “He was half on fire.”
Klein’s funeral will be held Friday in Queens, not far from where the he𒁏r꧒o grew up.
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods
