Updated 07/21/2010 11:14 AM
Fire In Vacated Brooklyn House Kills Squatter
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A man was killed Wednesday morning in a fire inside an abandoned home in Brooklyn, New York City Fire Department officials say.
Flames broke out shortly after 5:30 a.m. at 1138 East 35th Street in Flatlands.
About 60 firefighters contained the fire in about two hours, and the firemen found the body among the rubble.
The victim's identity has not yet been released.
No other injuries were reported.
"We're being told the building is a vacant building. It's unoccupied by the owners. The person residing inside was a squatter," said FDNY Chief Wayne Cartwright. "The building was open and accessible when we arrived, we didn't have to force entry into it. As I said earlier, heavy fire condition."
Locals who awoke to the fire in their own neighborhood told NY1 that the house had been occupied by squatters for about a year.
"There were three young guys in there, you know, smoking, drinking, hanging out there. They keep changing every day -- blacks, whites, all kinds of people," said one local.
"We just know that they were in there, in-and-out, in-and-out. Different ones every week, every other week. Every day, different people," said another.
FDNY officials are still investigating the incident.