A 66-year-old retired MTA worker died after being trapped in a Brooklyn basement fire despite his neighbors’ best efforts to save him, the Daily News has learned
Patrick Kirton couldn’t escape the basement after the fire broke out in his family home on E. 40th St. near Avenue I in Flatlands at about 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.
Neighbor Rodneil Harris rushed over to assist the Kirton family after Patrick’s wife called him over, saying Patrick was trapped in the basement.
“I went to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked,” Harris said. “The smoke was hurting my eyes, so I ran back outside for a breath of fresh air. My friend’s two sons, they came, smelled the smoke, and all three of us made our way downstairs.”
Harris and the two boys kicked down the basement door but were met with intense smoke that forced them to retreat outside.
“The room was completely dark, and the smoke, it just looked like a void,” Harris said.
Neighbor Portia Niles, 46, witnessed the neighbors’ brave rescue attempt.
“When they kicked down the door, all the smoke came up,” she said. “All three of them came up coughing and choking. They couldn’t go further in. There was no way.”
She saw first responders then arrive and pull Kirton out. Around 60 firefighters and EMS members responded to the scene.
Kirton and an 86-year-old woman were rushed to Kings County Hospital.
“He was definitely not conscious,” Niles said. “I saw when they were performing CPR in the ambulance. They were doing the pumping-the-chest thing.”
“He was barely hanging on,” she added. “He was alive when he got to the hospital. They put him in ICU.”
Kirton was in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital but later died from his injuries. The woman, who suffered smoke inhalation, is expected to recover.
The powerful blaze blew out the building’s windows, leaving glass shards on the ground.
Neighbors spoke highly of Kirton, who was from Barbados, and were devastated to learn of his death, calling him a “staple” of the neighborhood.
Kirton retired from his job with the New York City Transit Authority a few years ago.
“I saw him maybe a few days prior to the fire. He was just sitting in his car. Talking. I waved to him and said ‘Hi.’ That’s the last time I saw him,” Harris said. “He was a funny guy. We’d be sitting here, pass by, and he’d start cracking jokes.”
“We would always exchange city stories,” Harris added.
Harris remembered when Kirton would frequently count down the days until retirement and was eager to spend his newfound free time traveling and relaxing.
“Patrick was cool as a cucumber, Niles said. “He’s a father, a brother, an uncle.”
Five other people in the home were displaced by the fire, which was brought under control at around 7:19 p.m.
FDNY fire marshals are still investigating the cause of the fire.
Originally Published: June 22, 2025 at 4:16 PM EDT
