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Fatal Brooklyn blaze set by woman who lit hallway garbage on fire
Woman Charged With Murder In Connection With Deadly Dyker Heights Fire November 10, 2017
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A woman has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with a deadly blaze in Brooklyn that fire officials said was deliberately set.
Flames raced through three-story walk-up at 6709 11th Ave. in Dyker Heights around 7 a.m. Thursday.
Police sources say Joanna Mei, 22, confessed to setting the fire and that she was mad neighbors left garbage in the hallway. It took over 100 firefighters to contain the flames.
Once they did, 56-year-old grandmother Feng Xu and 58-year-old grandfather Xi Huang were found unconscious in their third floor apartment.
“I heard them screaming, I thought they were fighting, but they were obviously in terror trying to get out,” Gina Fiumefreddo said.
Mei has been charged with two counts of murder and arson, police said.
Police sources said Mei had psychological issues and confessed to playing with fire in the past, CBS2’s Lisa Rozner reported.
She allegedly told police she set a fire in the first floor stairwell and tried to stomp it out. But it quickly spread, engulfing the second and third floors.
Police sources told CBS2’s Rozner that Mei said she was mad at neighbors for leaving trash in the hallway.
Outside the police station, Rozner reported that she and her crew spotted the same black Toyota police were focused on at the scene Thursday. Inside were packages addressed to Mei in apartment 3F — the same floor the victims lived, Rozner reported.
Neighbors were shocked by the news.
“That’s unbelievable and it’s disgusting. This is just crazy, what is going on anymore?” said Dawn Zatucci, who helped people as they jumped to safety from an awning.
“I think it’s really sad — beyond sad — this is a tight knit community,” said Heidi Pugni.
Ten people were injured, including three firefighters and the couple’s grandchildren — a 3-month-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
Its not clear what accelerant was allegedly used in the fire, but police sources say they have Mei on camera at the scene, Rozner reported.
There were no working smoke detectors in the building, fire officials said.
For now the fire marshal is investigating.
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The deadly fire that ripped through a Brooklyn building and killed two people was an accident, according to the woman accused of starting the blaze.
Jailed murder suspect Joanna Mei claims she placed a smoldering piece of newspaper in the trash as she left her Dyker Heights home on her way to school, but didn't realize the scrap would spark an inferno.
"There was a newspaper on the ground that wasn't in the correct bin so I put it on top of a cardboard box and went downstairs," the 22-year-old nursing student told the Daily News on Saturday in a Rikers Island interview.
Mei, wearing a beige jumpsuit and glasses repeatedly pushed her long, straight black hair out of her face as she denied intentionally setting the Thursday morning fire.
Fatal Brooklyn blaze set by woman who lit hallway garbage on fire
"I was walking down the stairs and a few steps down I saw some bicycles laying around and something that looked like water on the floor," she said. "Some of the water got on me too and it smelled."
Specially trained dogs from the FDNY K-9 Unit found gas on Mei while police interviewed her, sources said.
A firefighter on the scene of the blaze, where stairways were completely charred. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
The dogs also found possible accelerants in other spots, including the third floor, where tenants Xi Huang, 58, and Feng Xu, 56, died.
Mei, who also lived on the third floor with her family, was charged with two counts of murder and arson.
Despite her denials on Saturday, sources say that Mei admitted to cops she started the blaze because she was upset about trash in the hallways and about a relative's death several years ago.
Mei also had a small burn on her right hand, sources said.
After setting the fire in a garbage can, she told cops that she changed her mind and tried to put it out by kicking it over, spreading the smoldering rubbish, sources said.
Mei told The News she remembers the newspaper looking kind of black when she moved it.
Deadly 2-alarm fire reduces apartment building to ash in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
It was only later that she found out what she thought was water on the floor was actually gasoline.
"I left around 6:45. By the time I made it down the block, the fire started," she said. "I ran back to my family."
She doesn't know who called 911, but said it wasn't her.
Her younger sister, mother and brother all got out safely from their third-floor apartment.
People watch firefighters at work on scene of the fatal Thursday fire. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News)
As for the two victims that died, Mei said she only knew them as her neighbors.
"I didn't know them really well. They moved in about a year ago. I only said hi and bye to them," she said. I feel sorry for them. Two people died."
A neighbor told the accused arsonist that the pair briefly escaped the inferno but decided to go back into the building to save their belongings.
"A woman in our building saw them come out when the fire started and said they went back in to get their money and all their important stuff," she said.
Two of Mei's neighbors were killed in the fire. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
In addition to the two dead, a family of four, which included a 3-month-old boy, was taken to Maimonides Medical Center with smoke inhalation. Three firefighters also suffered minor injuries.
Despite being ordered held without bail, Mei said she expects she'll be freed before too long.
"I'm not getting used this, I'm going to get out of here soon," she said.