Five escape Ridgewood apartment fire

A Tuesday night fire burned through a second-floor unit in a Ridgewood apartment building. Five people escaped the blaze with minor injuries. Eagle photos by David Brand.

By David Brand

A Tuesday night fire inside a Ridgewood apartment resulted in injuries to five residents, though none were seriously hurt, FDNY officials said. 

The fire broke out around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday on the second floor of a three-story home on Onderdonk Avenue near Stockholm Street. More than 60 FDNY firefighters arrived at the scene and had the blaze under control shortly after 10:30 p.m.

Five people escaped the fire and four refused medical attention. The fifth was taken to nearby Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.

Passersby recorded the fire and the FDNY response in videos that show ladders reaching the second-story windows. 

The unit was a charred mess with singed bedding coils of mattress wire piled in a corner the next day. Despite the fire and the stench of burned materials, a resident of a neighboring apartment said she managed to spend the night in her unit. 

A man who identified himself as the building landlord said the fire started by accident. He declined to give his name because he said the media would twist his words, but he said no tenants were seriously injured.

The FDNY said it is still investigating the cause of the fire.