FDNY rescue underway after partial building collapse in Brooklyn

A partial building collapse in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood just after 4 p.m. Wednesday prompted a large FDNY response near Flatbush Avenue and Bedford Avenue, the department said in an official post. Rescue work was underway, and officials had not announced a cause. The first 911 call came in at 4:01 p.m., according to the FDNY, ABC News reported. The collapse happened as the city marked Veterans Day.

One person died and at least 10 others were injured, the FDNY said Wednesday evening, CBS New York reported. Four of the injured were in critical condition and six had minor injuries, according to the FDNY. The department said other people were confirmed trapped and that units were working to search for and remove them. ABC7 New York, citing officials, said the person who died was pronounced dead at the scene and that all 10 injured people were taken to area hospitals. The NYPD said multiple people were taken to Kings County Hospital, NY1 reported. The Associated Press reported that the collapse killed at least one person and trapped others beneath the wreckage. The identity of the person who died had not been released, FOX 5 New York reported.

Later Wednesday evening, ABC7 New York reported, citing officials, that at least 12 people were injured, six of them critically and six others with lesser injuries, and that a rescue was underway to pull one more person from the rubble. ABC7 said the injured were mostly construction workers and some residents, and that the collapsed building had a store at ground level and at least one apartment upstairs. ABC News, citing the FDNY, said one injured person remained trapped. Casualty figures have differed between reports and may change.

Firefighters pulled a trapped woman from the rubble just after 6:30 p.m., ABC7 reported; her identity and condition had not been confirmed by authorities. Crews were still searching the debris for anyone else who might be trapped, ABC7 said. The collapse also damaged a neighboring building at 1323 Flatbush Ave., where part of the exterior appeared sheared away, exposing apartments, though that building remained standing, ABC7 reported. ABC News, citing an FDNY dispatch, said the three-story building fell into an open excavation site where workers were present.

Later in the evening, officials said crews had rescued four more residents from the debris within about an hour, ABC7 reported; their conditions were not immediately known. FDNY crews were using drones to help find anyone else who might be trapped, along with buckets and vacuum trucks to remove debris, ABC7 said. New York City Emergency Management said it was coordinating an interagency response with the FDNY, NYPD, Department of Buildings and Deputy Mayor for Operations Julia Kerson, according to ABC7. NYC Emergency Management opened a reception center for affected residents at 1401 Flatbush Avenue, FOX 5 New York reported.

Earlier in the evening, ABC News, citing the FDNY, said four construction workers were being taken to hospitals, and NBC New York reported that the FDNY had removed two people from the rubble soon after the collapse and that two others who had been missing were being extricated, according to a senior city official.

What happened, and where?

The FDNY said at 4:33 p.m. that units were operating at a building collapse on Flatbush Avenue. Official FDNY and NYPD posts placed the scene at Flatbush Avenue, near Bedford Avenue, without a street number. ABC7, citing the FDNY, later said a three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Ave. collapsed into an open construction site at 2625 Bedford Ave. Earlier accounts from FOX 5 New York, News 12 and a prior ABC7 version had described a three-story building at 2625 Bedford Ave., between Newkirk and Flatbush avenues, next to a construction site.

City property records show the two lots sit next to each other on Brooklyn tax block 5211: 1321 Flatbush Avenue is lot 73, and 2625 Bedford Avenue is lot 74. Records list 1321 Flatbush (BIN 3120364) as a three-story multiple dwelling with four units. NY1 reported that Department of Buildings records indicate the collapsed building is 1321 Flatbush Avenue, a three-story mixed-use building with four residential units and five units in total.

ABC News said firefighters were working in debris in a construction pit near Flatbush and Bedford Avenues and that one person was seen being pulled from the rubble on a stretcher. The Associated Press also reported that a New York City building collapsed Wednesday and that people were trapped. CBS New York, citing the FDNY, said a major technical rescue was underway. News 12 also reported a major technical rescue and said at least two people had been rescued and evaluated.

What do city records show about the site?

At 2625 Bedford Avenue, Department of Buildings records show a one-story building was demolished under a permit first issued March 13, 2026, and signed off June 8, 2026. Construction fence permits were issued March 11 and again on Nov. 10, the day before the collapse. In September 2026, the department issued permits for foundation and earth work and for support of excavation tied to a new-building application; the main new-building filing was still listed in “Objections” status in records retrieved Wednesday. The filings list the owner as W6 Facility X. LLC, with Robert Fischman named as the owner. The Department of Buildings told NY1 it recorded multiple issues in May with the project next door to the collapsed building, including working while a stop-work order was in place, lacking proper overhead protection for neighboring properties and failing to conform to approved construction drawings. CBS New York reported that city records show the department issued a violation in April to a demolition contractor after inspectors said a building at that site was demolished despite a city order to stop demolition work; that violation is now listed as resolved. Those records are context only. Officials have not said whether the construction work was related to the collapse, CBS noted, and they have not announced a cause.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged people to avoid the area. "As emergency operations continue, please join me in holding our neighbors and the members of this community in our hearts," he said in a statement reported by ABC News.

City Council Member Farah Louis, who represents Flatbush, said in a statement reported by ABC News: "We are devastated to learn that at least one life has been lost, with multiple people reported trapped and several injured as emergency personnel work urgently to reach everyone in the rubble." She said her team was working to reach affected families.

A Department of Buildings spokesperson, David Maggioto, told Gothamist that buildings officials were at the scene and would investigate the cause of the collapse.

What we don’t know yet

The identity of the person who died had not been released, and officials had not released a final count of anyone still trapped. Officials had not released a full, formal accounting of the injured or their identities. Figures in this story are attributed to the FDNY, the NYPD and news reports and may change as the rescue continues.

What's next

The FDNY said rescue operations were ongoing, and NBC reported that an investigation was underway. The NYPD and Notify NYC asked people to avoid the area around Bedford Avenue and Flatbush Avenue. This story will be updated as officials release more information. For other recent FDNY coverage in Brooklyn, see our report on last week’s Sunset Park house fire.

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