The horrific Brooklyn fire that killed three began when a resident inexplicably tossed a smoldering mattress down a stairwell, trapping residents on the second floor and higher, fire sources said today.
The mattress was set ablaze by a 5-year-old boy who was playing with a lighter inside his third floor bedroom Monday afternoon.
An adult inside the home dragged the smoldering mattress into the hallway and down the stairs, abandoning it on the second floor, cutting off the escape route for everyone above, fire officials said.
“They made an attempt to remove the mattress from the occupancy and that complicated the problem,” said one fire official. “They dragged the mattress down to the stairwell on the second floor and anyone above that became trapped.”
The third and fourth floors of the Putnam Avenue brownstone were occupied by a single extended family, officials said.
Jeff Larmond, 62, his 14-year-old daughter Dzhane, and his 3-year-old daugher Jemymiah were killed in the fire.
