9-year-old girl dies in house fire in New York

A 9-year-old girl died in a house fire in Brooklyn early Friday morning – a tragedy that has shaken the entire neighborhood.

Firefighters arriving at 5:30 a.m. in response to a fire at a three-story building on Howard Avenue in Brownsville found an injured child on the top floor who appeared to be badly injured.

According to the police, she was taken to the hospital, where she was declared dead 90 minutes later.

A neighbor, Dr. Burchell Marcus, said her family was distraught.

“In fact, even the neighbors are in turmoil,” Marcus said, “because we are a tight-knit community here, a tight-knit family. Everyone takes care of each other.”

Another person was found on the second floor and is expected to survive.

A video posted on the Citizen app shows the raging flames at one point. It increased to three alarms and over 130 firefighters eventually responded. According to official figures, one received minor injuries.

The cause of the fire is being investigated. Teams continued to put out hot spots all morning, but the situation was reportedly under control within two hours.