The Saturday morning blaze at 3030 Emmons St. in Sheepshead Bay began in the first-floor apartment of one of the victims, John Ambrico, 56, a heavy smoker.
Ambrico's brother, Donald, 58, who also lives in the building, said John, a Veterans Administration manager, was buying groceries across the street when he spotted the flames, ran back and tried to put them out with water.
John died of a heart attack, he said.
The other victim, Lester Walton, 60, a retired Fire Department auditor, also suffered a heart attack after banging on the doors of fellow fifth-floor tenants to warn them to get out of the burning building.
A Fire Department official said the blaze was caused by a burning cigarette that ignited a futon and half the 130 apartments in the building were destroyed.
Donald Ambrico, a Staten Island ferry deckhand, said he lost everything in the blaze, escaping with "only the clothes on my back" and his two cats, Peaches and Herb.
"I'm still in shock," he said. It's bad enough to lose your apartment and all the things you own, but I've lost a brother as well."
Sixth-floor residents Michael Scarpino, 86, a retired fishing captain, and his wife, Dorothy, 69, said they also lost everything.
"It's completely gone," Scarpino moaned. "It's all burned down. The roof caved in. It's completed destroyed."
The couple's daughter-in-law, Patricia Dillon, 40, who lives on the fourth floor, said she was in the kitchen when he saw smoke coming from the toaster.
"I unplugged it and saw the smoke was coming from the socket," she said. "It was coming quickly. I was panicking. I wanted to get my in-laws out. My only thought was to get them out and get everyone safe."
When smoke began to fill their apartment, the Scarpinos went out on their balcony and waited for firefighters to lead them down the fire escape.
A burning cigarette set a futon mattress ablaze, causing a deadly five-alarm inferno that killed two tenants and destroyed half the dwellings in a six-story Brooklyn apartment building, authorities said yesterday.
The Saturday morning blaze at 3030 Emmons St. in Sheepshead Bay began in the first-floor apartment of one of the victims, John Ambrico, 56, a heavy smoker.
Ambrico's brother, Donald, 58, who also lives in the building, said John, a Veterans Administration manager, was buying groceries across the street when he spotted the flames, ran back and tried to put them out with water.
John died of a heart attack, he said.
The other victim, Lester Walton, 60, a retired Fire Department auditor, also suffered a heart attack after banging on the doors of fellow fifth-floor tenants to warn them to get out of the burning building.
A Fire Department official said the blaze was caused by a burning cigarette that ignited a futon and half the 130 apartments in the building were destroyed.
Donald Ambrico, a Staten Island ferry deckhand, said he lost everything in the blaze, escaping with "only the clothes on my back" and his two cats, Peaches and Herb.
"I'm still in shock," he said. It's bad enough to lose your apartment and all the things you own, but I've lost a brother as well."
Sixth-floor residents Michael Scarpino, 86, a retired fishing captain, and his wife, Dorothy, 69, said they also lost everything.
"It's completely gone," Scarpino moaned. "It's all burned down. The roof caved in. It's completed destroyed."
The couple's daughter-in-law, Patricia Dillon, 40, who lives on the fourth floor, said she was in the kitchen when he saw smoke coming from the toaster.
"I unplugged it and saw the smoke was coming from the socket," she said. "It was coming quickly. I was panicking. I wanted to get my in-laws out. My only thought was to get them out and get everyone safe."
When smoke began to fill their apartment, the Scarpinos went out on their balcony and waited for firefighters to lead them down the fire escape.
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