Fast-Moving Crown Heights Blaze Kills Elderly Woman
An elderly Brooklyn woman died in a fast-moving, two-alarm blaze early Monday. The fire broke out about 4:35am in a deli on the ground floor of the apartment building on Franklin Ave. in Crown Heights, officials said.
Olga Bates, 91, a retired cafeteria worker, was found unconscious on the second floor after firefighters extinguished the fire, relatives and officials said.
She was rushed to Interfaith Medical Center, where she died.
“She was a religious, kind woman,” said her heartbroken niece Loretta Hall, 67. “She had all her faculties about her. She was very independent, very strong – stronger than me.”
Neighbors mourned the loss as well.
“I miss her already,” said Gale Scott, 41, who lives across the hall from the victim.
“She was sweet, beautiful. Whatever you needed, she would do.”
Scott ushered neighbors, including Katie VanSpeybroeck, 30, out her window and onto her fire escape to safety.
“We all shoved ourselves on this one fire escape. It was really scary,” said VanSpeybroeck, who was able to carry out her 8-year-old cat.
“I’m so grateful we woke up in time,” she added.
The fire started in the recently-renovated Organic Deli Grocery on the ground floor of the four-story brick apartment building. Dazed owner Emad Alharir walked amidst broken glass outside the store Monday morning.
“He’s just in shock,” said a friend of the deli owner.
“We just don’t know how it started. He’s so confused to see it all.”
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Very tragic for a 91 year old woman to go that way, though this is north of Atlantic Avenue, which I believe is Bedford-Stuyvesant, not Crown Heights.
whynot_31
This fire was on our side of Atlantic Ave, in Crown Heights.
loss
SORRY for her, and the loss her family had……
Crown Heights North
Very sad and tragic right before the holidays. I believe I used to see her walking on Franklin, slightly hunched, but moving nonetheless. I was impressed that she was so mobile given her age. May she rest in peace. Also, the bodega owner David is a nice guy, but I hope he didn’t circumvent proper procedures for the recent renovation. It’s always tempting to save money, but cutting corners rarely pays in the long-run.