An FDNY firefighter suffered a medical episode and died while battling a Brooklyn apartment building blaze, officials announced Sunday.
Patrick Brady, 42, was working on the roof of a six-story burning building on Kings Highway near E. 94th St. in East Flatbush late Saturday when he went into cardiac arrest, officials said.
His fellow firefighters and FDNY medics attempted lifesaving measures before the 11-year FDNY veteran was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died, officials said.
“They were pumping his chest. There was getting him in the ambulance, trying to help him,” said Mary Gibbons, 31, a restaurant manager, who live on the top floor where the fire broke out just before 9:40 p.m. Saturday.
“It was very frantic. You had at least 10 to 15 firefighters and people trying to resuscitate him. That was really sad.”
Brady, who lived in the Belle Harbor section of the Rockaways, joined the FDNY in July 2014 and was most recently assigned to Ladder 120 in Brownsville in 2022.
His two brothers, Jimmy and Brian, are both FDNY firefighters, and he has cousins and uncles who served in the department as well, FDNY officials said.
“He comes from a great fire department family,” FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Mark Guerra said.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 40 minutes. Nobody else was hurt in the blaze.
“Firefighter Patrick Brady gave his life protecting the city we all love. There is no sacrifice that is more selfless,” Mayor Adams said.
“I just visited his wife and his relatives and his brothers and I want to let you know that we realize this great sacrifice he made … It takes courage to put on that uniform, to put your life at risk for others, to answer the call.”
Gibbons, the sixth-floor resident, suggested the blaze started on a mattress. Damage inside the burned-up apartment appeared heaviest in the bedroom.
She learned of the fire after hearing the shrill sound of a smoke detector.
“I heard ‘Beep, beep, beep,’ and then I opened the door,” she said.
She saw smoke coming out of her neighbor’s apartment and one of her neighbors was trying to open the locked door, worried someone was inside.
“Now I’m throwing on my clothes,” Gibbons said. “Tell everybody downstairs that there’s a real fire.”
Gibbons directed firefighters to the correct apartment and told them someone might be inside but it turned out the apartment’s occupant wasn’t home, she said.
