Twenty-two-year-old Thaddeus Boone was arrested and charged with arson and burglary for setting fire to his girlfriend’s fifth-floor Boerum Hill apartment at just after 2 a.m. on Sunday. According to the police, the pair had argued about something earlier in the night, and he allegedly left the home only to return to start the blaze. “The entire hallway was engulfed in smoke,” a witness told the New York Daily News. “I tried to get into the apartment but there was so much smoke, I couldn’t see my hand in front of me. I couldn’t breathe.” The FDNY rescued two children — an 8-year-old girl and an unconscious 5-month-old boy — who were sleeping in separate bedrooms, while a 63-year-old woman, a 14-year-old boy, and another baby apparently managed to escape on their own. All are now in stable condition after being treated at area hospitals. All in all, it took 65 firefighters to get the situation under control.
