Woman Dies In Brighton Beach Apartment Fire
An 82-year-old handicapped woman perished in an early morning fire on Saturday, after a heroic but unsuccessful attempt to pull her from the Brighton Beach apartment.
The fire broke out at 3111 Brighton 7th Street at approximately 2:40 a.m.
Feyga Geyman and her husband, Sukher, were asleep when a tangle of electrical cords beneath their bed sparked the second-floor fire, authorities believe. The bedroom quickly caught fire.
Home health aide Gulruh Rahmonova, 27, who was staying there the night, sprang into action, aiding Sukher out of the building. But she struggled to help Feyga, a wheelchair-bound woman suffering from diabetes and a heart condition.
Rahmonova called for help, and their fifth floor neighbor Oleg Dubrovsky ran into the apartment to find that Geyman had made it to the couch in the living room.
The Daily News reports:
“She was on the couch screaming, ‘Help me, help me!’ in Russian,” the shaken neighbor said. “I couldn’t get in. The smoke was too deep. I tried to get on my hands and knees (to get to the woman), but the ceiling was starting to collapse. The air was too hot. It was burning my throat. … I couldn’t do nothing. She burned before my eyes.”
Dubrovsky said Rahmonova, the panicked aide, made a last-ditch attempt to save Geyman.
“The home attendant was running around with me,” he said. “She was trying to go back in. I pulled her out.”
The entire building evacuated as the ordeal unfolded. Firefighters were on scene and extinguished the blaze, but found Geyman dead.
Six residents and one firefighter were treated for minor injuries. Sukher Geyman was taken to Staten Island Hospital to burns with his hands.
Our thoughts go out to the Geyman family.
