Three people were in critical condition Sunday after residents in a three-story apartment building in Brooklyn woke up to a carbon monoxide leak, according to an FDNY spokesman.

Eleven people were taken to area hospitals for carbon monoxide poisoning after the call came in at 7:45 a.m. for an unconscious man in the brick building on Lincoln Street near Ralph Avenue, the spokesman said.

The condition was caused by a malfunctioning pilot light, a police spokesman said. All the tenants were evacuated as a precaution, but have since been able to return.

Dexter Boston, 46, was taken out unconscious from the first floor and transported to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, according to family and neighbors.

“They were carrying him out. He was out cold. It scared the devil out of me,” said Antoinette Little, 70, an upstairs neighbor.

Little was sleeping at the time of the leak. “My daughter always keeps the windows pulled up. That’s what saved us. We would have been dead up there,” Little said. “I’m grateful to whoever called 911, and the cops. The cops were banging on the door. They got us up. They got us out of there.”

It was the back apartments that were most affected, Little said. She also said Boston is the nephew of the landlord, Hugh Boston, who was at the scene going through the house with the fire marshal.

It was not known how many apartments or residents were in the building.

Dexter Boston’s mother, Winifred Stewart, 69, burst into tears when she learned from reporters that her son was hospitalized. She has a new phone number and had been at work and not received calls from her relatives.

“Nobody told me anything. I just came off the train,” the distraught woman, who works at Elmhurst Hospital, said.

She said she had last spoken to her son around 7:30 Saturday night.

Boston is a construction worker and father to a number of children living in Texas and Guyana, according to family friend Kevin Gravesande, 26.

“He’s a humble and cool guy,” he said. “Very helpful.”

The two others in critical condition, whose names were not released, were also taken to Cornell hospital, according to the FDNY. The eight with minor injuries were taken to Kings County Hospital.

The fire department is investigating, according to police.