Hundreds of first responders at Brooklyn building collapse

Here on Flatbush and Stevens Court, I'm going to have Mike Nash just show you from our vantage point exactly what we're seeing. We see drones in the sky. We see droves of first responders here on scene responding to this partial collapse. We just spoke to a gentleman just moments ago who told us he was here just after this happened, and he shared just some of the aftermaths that he saw. I'm just going to ask him a couple of questions while we're here right now. Sir, you came here after. And you saw the aftermath. What did you see? What happened? Well, there was a lady that was on the floor laying with her head chopped off. And to my understanding, the Jewish guy that runs the place, when he found out that she was Haitian, I believe he spat on her. I didn't see it, but that's what they told me. He spat on her. That's why he got arrested by the police. It's about three, two babies, one baby. Sir, based on what we have to confirm, one person has died, another is in critical condition at the hospital. Police responded to this collapse, Steve and Natasha, around 4 this afternoon. There are at least 10 people, individuals at several low area hospitals and the extent of their injuries. So far, it's unknown. Now, we're told you can see the three-story building here at 2625 Bedford Avenue. That's where this building, it just appears to be sliced off. And you can see inside of that apartment building where you can just see the interior. We're looking at what appears to be a bed here on the side, several first responders. Hundreds of first responders here on scene. The firefighters are working through the rubble above head to see if they can get to anybody trapped inside. And the massive scene here blocked off several blocks here from Stevens, where we are here, Bedford, also down this street here. And we've learned that multiple people have been trapped so far. It's unclear their statuses, but we're just seeing a lot of people here on scene just kind of mesmerized by the scene of what they're seeing here. And we were just trying to speak to an individual there, several other people that we're going to try to speak to. But if you come back here live, you can just see that just several first responders here are saying, Steve and Natasha, I'll send things back to you. All right, Kendall, thanks so much for your efforts on the ground there at the scene of the collapse, which took place around four o'clock. And we do have this new post from the mayor on Twitter. First responders are on the scene of a building collapse on Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, where they're working quickly to secure the location and assist New Yorkers. Flatbush Ave is closed from Clarendon Road to Bedford Avenue. Please avoid the area so rescue crews can work. We'll be sharing what we will learn as soon as we can confirm it as emergency operations continue. Please join me in holding our neighbors and the members of this community in our hearts. So certainly not much in the way of new information, but it does just, Give you a little pause, it shows that they don't know all the answers and there is concern that there's more we don't know just yet. Teresa, are you on the scene? Do you have anything to offer right now for us, Teresa? Theresa? One thing that I can tell you, Steve, is as Kendall was speaking, we saw what, look, actually you can still see it. Gus, show them this sort of cloud of smoke right over the fire truck. Can you see how it's a little hazy? As Kendall was speaking, all of a sudden we started to see sort of a cloud of smoke go up. And a couple of seconds later, we saw them take somebody out by stretcher and run them over to the ambulances. So they would be running up Flatbush Avenue, past where we are on Stevens Court, basically past our photographers in the pen. There's a media pen that has been set up. So as I've been standing here, that would be the second person that they have pulled out of the rubble in just the last 15 minutes. or so. They didn't appear to be working on the individual. They were just running the person to the ambulance. I would hope that that would mean that the person was pulled and did not need sort of immediate life-saving assistance as they were put on that stretcher and run to the ambulance. So it's not as if they were doing cardiac compressions or anything like that on the person. But again, second person in the last 15 minutes to be pulled. Other information that we can give you, Steve and Natasha, is as they were pulling that first individual out, which I believe Photojournalist Mike Nash caught that and you guys were able to see that live. I saw what appeared to be maybe three or four children and a couple of adults. Run past this fire truck and through these fire trucks here and sort of around the back of that fire truck. I am assuming that those people are connected to the scene here because nobody else is walking around. If you're not emergency personnel, I'm talking fire, of course, EMS, NYPD as well. So we assume that those are families connected to either the individuals Thank you very much. Now, Steve and Natasha. As we have seen with other breaking news situations, this kind of technology is absolutely crucial in these sort of situations as crews are in the rubble. They're feeling around with their hands, listening for signs of life, looking around. They are also relying on those drones to give them quite literally that bird's eye view and to assess the situation. Of course, they have sonar and other technologies as well. We have seen this with other building collapse that we have covered around the city, but they are utilizing that technology here. We are seeing other I'm just looking around. It just appears to be other members of the NYPD and emergency services that are showing up here as well. So every couple of minutes are sort of a burst of activity and then things start to calm down. All of the ambulances are posted again just off to the side of our crews that are parked in the pens that are over there. And, yeah, that's what we are seeing at this time. Just to reiterate what Jumaane Williams said to us a little earlier, one person confirmed dead by the NYPD, 10 people believed to be injured, two people critically. At this point, we don't know if that also includes the two individuals that we saw pulled out just a short time ago. So that number is very fluid. And we also don't know if that includes the information that Jumaane Williams gave us that he saw a toddler. Walking out of the rubble, or being taken out of the rubble, I should say, just for clarity's sake, and also the concern that a man was looking for his pregnant wife, who at this point According to Jumaane, the public advocate, was unaccounted for. We don't know if that person was at an area hospital, that person is in the rubble, or perhaps that person was not even in the area. Things are so fluid here. Information is just trickling in. And so family members are doing the same thing that we are doing, which is hearing something, seeing if it applies, and just trying to piece it together. It's still a massive crowd. Gus is positioned here, so I don't know if you'll be able to see it. I don't see it, but... There must be 50, 60 community members just here. A lot of them have their phones out there broadcasting this live on other social media apps as well. They're waiting to hear information about their neighbors. They heard the commotion, and so they came down here just to experience what we are experiencing. That's the thing. And so, again, we're looking to see if FDNY is actually bringing in more equipment right now. They were bringing in some more baseboards. I believe that's what they're called a little earlier. Things are rapidly changing, things are moving, and at this point, again, two people pulled out in the last 15 minutes or so, Steve and Natasha, and from what I could see, they were not actively working on those individuals, so we hope that that means that those individuals were in good enough shape to be able to get care in an ambulance and at the hospital and not needing some sort of cardiac care or something here on scene. Yeah, I agree with you. That appeared to be an encouraging sign for sure. We do appreciate that. The update on the ground right across from where this all took place at 4 o'clock.