Residents of Third Street in Park Slope were awakened by the sound of firetruck sirens and the smell of smoke at 3 AM Wednesday morning. The fire was in the top floor apartment of 392 Third Street, a 4-story, 8-unit limestone condominium building on the south side of Third Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

Three residents of Third Street (between Sixth and Seventh Avenues) braved the icy sidewalks to see what all the commotion (and smoke) was about on this frigid night with temperatures hovering around 21 degrees but with a wind chill that made it feel more like 14 degrees. 

One Third Street resident told me:  "I saw flames blazing out the top floor windows of that building. I think it's 392 or 394,  I'm not sure." Trucks from 122, Squad 1 and 105 and EMTs were already on the scene when he got outside. "The response time was extremely quick," he said. Standing near the building minutes after the blaze was put out he said, "I saw two people naked and unconscious being taken out of the building," he said. "That apartment is completely destroyed."

Standing on 6th Avenue and Third Street we watched as an unconscious person on a gurney was wheeled by EMTs and put in an ambulance.

At approximately 3 AM,  I woke to the sound of sirens and actually smelled smoke in my apartment, which is in the middle of the block between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. The smell got more intense in our public hallway and I walked up to the doors of all the apartments in my building to make sure the fire wasn't coming from our building.

When I got downstairs I saw the flashing lights of fire trucks on Sixth Avenue and more trucks between Sixth and Fifth Avenues. Numerous residents of my block were outside because they had smelled smoke and thought the fire was in their building or one nearby. One woman who lives closer to 7th Avenue told me: "I thought my building was on fire." When she tried to cross the street at Sixth Avenue to get a closer look at what was going on a policeman jumped out of his squad car and ran across the street. "Lady, do not go there. Get back. You are not to go down there," he yelled. 

"I just wanted to see what was going on," she told him as she walked back to the east side of Sixth Avenue and walked home.