GRAVESEND, Brooklyn (WABC) --
Firefighters say an air conditioner was the cause of a fire inside a Brooklyn apartment that left an entire family hospitalized and two young children critically injured.
Flames broke out shortly after 2 p.m. in the first floor unit at the 16-story Marlboro Houses on West 11th Street in the Gravesend section.
Fire officials say eight people were injured - five from one family in the apartment and three were neighbors in the building who were visiting.
The four children injured range in age from nine months to nine years old. Two of those kids are in critical condition. Two other victims were seriously hurt, and four suffered minor injuries.
Neighbors felt helpless until firefighters arrived.
"It was terrifying because we couldn't do nothing because the bars were on the window. We couldn't get the bars off. And we just heard them in there screaming," says Glenda Reyes.
Reyes said the mother tried to run back inside, but then fainted in her arms. Meanwhile, the witnesses say the children's father kept running back in and out to try to save his kids before he eventually passed out.
"He was just in shock. He was shaking - his whole body was shaking. He was covered in all charcoal smoke, he couldn't breathe right," says Omar Yousof.
No firefighters were injured.
An air conditioner used by the family to regulate the temperature of the apartment is believed to have accidentally sparked the fire.
Fire officials say there was an operational smoke detector in the apartment.
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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) —
Fire officials say an everyday electrical appliance was to blame for an apartment fire that sent six members of a Brooklyn family to the hospital Saturday afternoon.
Dozens of firefighters were called to a three-bedroom apartment at the Marlborough Houses on West 11th Street in Gravesend around 2 p.m.
Four people, including two children ages four and eight, were critically injured.
Residents describe seeing the children’s distraught mother outside.
“She was screaming, ‘My babies, my babies!’” neighbor Glenda Reyes told CBS2. She noticed Lucia Pereyra’s nearby apartment was filled with heavy, black smoke – her young children and other family members, including husband, Robert, still inside.
“She fainted,” Reyes said. “She had no clothes, nothing. We had to put clothes on her and shoes.”
Two other people remain in serious but stable condition. Eight were hurt in total.
Officials say a working smoke detector was present in the home when the fire broke out, and blame the accidental blaze on an in-room air conditioner inside the apartment.
Luckily, crews were able to keep the flames from spreading to other units.