The three young kids who were allegedly locked alone inside their Brooklyn apartment by their dad when a fire broke out are on their way to recovery following the horrific weekend blaze that left them on ventilators and unable to breathe on their own, their mother told The Post Tuesday.
Firefighters found the three children — Naomi, 8, Tonya, 5, and Anthony, 4 — unconscious and alone inside the 11th-floor home on Livonia Avenue in Brownsville on Sunday. They quickly pulled the kids out, and EMS workers labored to save them, fire officials said.
But the kids still weren’t doing well — until they began waking up on Tuesday, according to mom Alicia Hazel.
“They’re all opening their eyes and moving today,” Hazel told The Post outside NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. “The doctor said they’re going to get their tubes out tomorrow or Friday. They’re all out of the woods, they’re recovering very well.”
The eldest, Naomi, had her ventilator removed Tuesday morning, Hazel said.
“The first thing she said to me was, ‘I tried to get them out, Mommy,’” Hazel said, crying as she spoke. “Then she said, “My homework! I left it!’ And I said, ‘That’s OK baby, don’t think about that right now.’”
Firefighters found Alicia Hazel’s kids unconscious and alone inside the 11th-floor home on Livonia Avenue in Brownsville on Sunday. Gregory P. MangoAuthorities have charged the kids’ father, Anthony Halliburton, 37, with three counts each of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly leaving them alone while he went to get groceries, according to court papers.
Halliburton, who has more than 70 previous arrests, was freed without bail Monday after his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
The three kids — Naomi, 8, Tonya, 5, and Anthony, 4 — are on ventilators because they can’t breathe on their own, their mom said. Family Handout
Firefighters bring one of the kids to the hospital. CitizenHe promised the judge that he wouldn’t have any contact with the kids — two of whom are his biological children.
Hazel said Tuesday that she’s allowed to talk to Halliburton, but hasn’t done so because she’s “just not ready.”
“He said he was going to get them something to eat,” she said, shaking her head and looking away. “But I can’t think about that. I have to stay focused on my children.”
“I’m homeless right now, and I’m trying to figure out housing so that when they’re ready to go, I have a place to take them,” she added.
The kids were supposed to be with the father, so their mother will not be facing any charges, an NYPD source said Tuesday.
Hazel’s eldest, Naomi, had her ventilator removed Tuesday morning. pprovidedNeighbors described a loud, chaotic scene Sunday as smoke flooded out of the blazing apartment and into the hallway.
One woman told The Post that she heard a loud banging that tricked her into thinking someone was hammering at her window.
“So I opened it, and I saw everybody looking up,” she said. “I came out, and I looked up, and I saw the fire and the smoke coming out through the windows. … It was big, black smoke covering the whole sky.”
The kids were left in the apartment alone, fire officials said. CitizenWhen firefighters arrived, they found two of the kids in the living room and one lying behind the front door, John Hodgens, chief of department for the FDNY, said at a Sunday press briefing.
It’s not clear what precipitated the fire. A GoFundMe has been set up to help support the family.
Heartbreaking photos showed the three youngsters tied up to breathing tubes at a hospital in the aftermath of the inferno.
Authorities have charged the kids’ father, Anthony Halliburton, 37, with three counts each of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly leaving them alone while he went to get groceries. pprovidedOne neighbor told WPIX on Monday that it was ridiculous that Halliburton left the kids alone.
“There should be no reason why three kids are left in a home by themselves,” neighbor Rahnell Texsara told the station.
The blaze torched the 11th-floor apartment in Brownsville. It’s not clear how it started. Family Handout
The kids’ father, Anthony Halliburton, has been charged with several crimes for leaving the kids on their own. PIX11“His excuse to me was, ‘I was only gone for five minutes,’” Texsara said. “I’m like, anything can happen in just one minute! These are children.”
Texsara said he drenched himself in water, then tried to break into the apartment. But it was the city’s Bravest who finally breached the door and saved the kids.
Firefighters found the three kids unconscious in the apartment. Citizen
Authorities have charged the kids’ father, Anthony Halliburton, 37, with three counts each of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly leaving them alone while he went to get groceries. pprovided
Alicia Hazel said Tuesday that she’s allowed to talk to Halliburton, but hasn’t done so because she’s “just not ready.” Gregory P. MangoHalliburton had previously been arrested mainly for the unauthorized sale of fare cards and forged tokens, law enforcement sources told The Post.
He was also arrested twice for drug possession, sources said.
All but two of his dozens of arrests occurred in the Bronx, sources said.
One of the drug busts was in Manhattan, while a token arrest occurred in Brooklyn, sources said.
Hazel, the mom, beseeched New Yorkers to hold their kids close in the wake of her tragedy.
“Don’t ever leave your children alone,” she said.
Additional reporting by Haley Brown
