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[UPDATE] Brooklyn Man Wanders Along Sidewalk On Fire
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 22, 2014
Modified Oct 22, 2014
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 22, 2014
Modified Oct 22, 2014
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[UPDATE BELOW] An unidentified man was critically injured yesterday afternoon after a flash fire in a Midwood, Brooklyn basement set his clothes ablaze. An FDNY spokesman says first responders rushed to the scene, at 910 McDonald Avenue, shortly after 1:30 yesterday and transported the man in critical condition to Maimonides Medical Center.
Sources tell the Daily News the man was drying tobacco leaves for his upcoming "hookah binge," and a neighbor says he may have been using acetone when fumes from the chemicals ignited the pilot light in the basement's water heater.
Security camera footage of the incident showed the burning man wandering along the sidewalk in a daze. ABC 7 reports:
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."
“One guy came out of the truck with his fire extinguisher and sprayed his sneakers,” Mayer said. “And another guy literally grabbed the shirt of his back.”
“I don’t know if he was bald or not but he definitely didn’t have any hair left now,” Mayer tells the Post. “His lips were white. A lot of his clothing melted.”
Acting Deputy Chief Division 8 Battalion Mark Egan tells the tabloid, "The fire department units extinguished the fire and right now at this time we have hazmat units testing some unknown chemicals found in the basement." One firefighter sustained minor injuries while battling the blaze.
The unidentified man sustained severe burns over 90% of his body, but ABC 7 reports that he is now in stable condition and was transferred to an area burn unit.
Update: The man, identified by the NY Post as Mohammad Saram, 22, has died. We've removed the video.
Tagged
brooklyn
fire
midwood
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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