BAY RIDGE, Brooklyn (WABC) — A fire tore through an apartment in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn overnight where police responded hours earlier for reports of a dead body.
Heavy flames shot out the window of the Shore Road apartment just after 1 a.m. Monday before firefighters quickly put it under control.
Police had been in the building earlier in the day for a man in his 70s who had died.
Neighbors complained of a foul odor for several days before his body was found.
He lived alone and was described as a hoarder.
“He had a lot of junk in the house, he’s one of those kind of people that don’t throw anything away, it was terrible,” said tenant Ida Borrino Rodriguez.
It was not clear how long he was dead but his death is not considered suspicious.
As building management waited for the body to be removed, the fire broke out and many residents were forced to evacuate.
“We were all very frightened, it was very scary because at first we didn’t know, and then we saw the firemen coming up and then they told us go downstairs and that was it,” said neighbor Joyce Robliotta.
Fire officials say as many as six apartments in the building sustained water damage.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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