Turn-Of-Century House On Stratford Road Consumed By Flames

https://youtu.be/jBKhAHH6nHw

[This story was updated at 4:45pm and at 8:30pm, 3/23/16.]

A turn-of-the-century house on Stratford Road was destroyed in a two-alarm fire earlier today. Over 100 firefighters battled the blaze, which could be seen from Coney Island Avenue.

The house at 474 Stratford Road, between Dorchester Road and Ditmas Avenue, was built in 1899. Neighbors report it has been abandoned for some time, and that squatters were seen in and around the house.

City-Data.com lists the three-story house’s owner as June R. Thorpe. The cause of the fire is under investigation, a spokesman for the Fire Department said.

The FDNY confirmed that the house was vacant at the time of the fire, but did say it had received initial reports of two people with injuries. Those individuals were not treated by EMS, the FDNY said. Six firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

There have been reports that two individuals were seen climbing out of an upper story window and fleeing down a ladder in the back, but we have been unable to verify this.

The fire was called into the FDNY at 12:42 this afternoon, and was contained a little less than two hours later, at 2:31pm. Twenty-five FDNY units — not all of them engine companies — responded.

(S. Daniel Ackerman took the photo of the fire showing Coney Island Avenue.)