3 injured in Brooklyn home blaze

THREE PEOPLE were injured — one critically — when a fire ripped through a Brooklyn home Saturday, authorities said.

The blaze erupted inside a single-story house on E. 96th St. near Flatlands Ave. in Canarsie at 5:17 p.m. and quickly spread, the FDNY said.

Firefighters knocked down the flames just before 7 p.m.

“The fire met us at the front door. We had to fight the fire all the way to the back,” FDNY Battalion Chief Brian Foley said.

The blaze gutted the small row house. Foley said the fire spread to both neighboring buildings before firefighters got control of it.

One person was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital in critical condition. Another victim was taken to Kings County Hospital with minor injuries. One firefighter also suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

Mounir Raghouli, who lives down the street, recalled smelling smoke minutes after the fire broke out.

“The smoke was covering the whole block. You couldn’t see what was going on. It smelled toxic,” Raghouli said.

The 40-year-old cook watched as medics rushed an elderly man out the back of the house with burns to his face.

“They were running to get him out,” Raghouli said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.