Devastating five-alarm Brooklyn fire guts supermarket and nearby homes, leaving seven injured

Flames shoot through the roof of a Brooklyn supermarket during a five-alarm fire on May 1, 2024.

Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

Fire marshals are looking to figure out what sparked a devastating five-alarm blaze in Brooklyn on Wednesday that gutted a closed supermarket and several nearby residences.

Seven people, including six firefighters, suffered minor injuries in the raging inferno, which broke out at about 6:10 p.m. on May 1 inside of 1385 Bushwick Ave. in Bushwick.

Within three minutes of receiving 911 calls, members of Battalion 37 and Squad Company 252 arrived on the scene to find the supermarket fully engulfed, and flames spreading to four nearby residential buildings along Bushwick Avenue and Cooper Street, leaving some 30 residents displaced.

“Our hearts go out to those residents, and we have the Red Cross here to help them during these difficult times,” First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer said at a press conference later Wednesday evening.

FDNY units are currently operating at the scene of a 5-alarm fire at 1385 Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/oPEoMyRFZW

— FDNY (@FDNY) May 1, 2024

More than 250 firefighters would be called to the scene to battle the extraordinary blaze.

“We actually have the equivalent of a seven or eight-alarm fire here,” said Chief Tom Currao, citywide tour commander. “We were really trying to get ahead of this. It’s one of the challenges in wood-frame construction homes, especially in a lot of occupancies. The way they’re built, there are a lot of concealed spaces. It takes a lot of time to open them up and get the fire under control.”

In all, seven tower ladders and six exterior hose lines were used to knock down the main body of fire. The FDNY declared the blaze under control at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday.