Burn Victims Need Brooklyn Center, City Told

BROOKLYN, NY — A group of elected officials called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to fund Brooklyn's first dedicated center to treat burn victims after the borough saw an uptick in fires last year.

Borough President Eric Adams, along with every City Council member in Brooklyn, pushed the mayor to allocate $10 million in this year's budget to get the eight-bed burn unit off the ground.

"The welfare of Brooklyn’s children and families compel us to act," Adams said in a statement.

"Fire prevention education and outreach are critically important, but so is ensuring we have local health care infrastructure that can mean the difference between life and death."

A spokesperson for the mayor did not respond to a request for comment.

Currently, Brooklyn victims with obvious burn damages get sent to the three dedicated units in the city: Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, Jacobi Hospital in The Bronx and Staten Island University Hospital North. Others are treated at local hospitals then taken to the centers for further care.

The dedicated unit would treat wounds, interventions for shock, offer rehab and give reconstructive surgery for burn victims.

The politicians renewed their call for the dedicated burn unit after there was an uptick in fires around the borough in 2017, including the Sheepshead Bay blaze that killed Aliza Azan, 40, and her three kids Moshe Azan, 11, Yitzah Azan, 7 and Henrietta Azan, 3.

Last year, the FDNY responded to 8,206 structural fires, a two-percent jump from 2016, and 4,974 non-structural fires, a 6.5 percent increase from the previous year, in Brooklyn, Adams said.

In a letter sent to the mayor, the politicians wrote that while Chicago, which has roughly the same population as Brooklyn, has two burn centers the borough still doesn't have one.

"Modern burn centers not only address burns suffered in fires, but are also integral to treating burns from scalding liquids as well as road burns resulting from pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist, and motorist crashes," the electeds wrote. "The siting of a burn center in Brooklyn would go a long way toward ensuring high-quality care for our constituents in case of such eventualities."

Adams first launched a campaign to bring a burn unit to the borough in 2016 and allocated $4.15 million to get it off the ground, which could cover the construction and first-year operation of the unit if the mayor allocates the funds.

Image: Borough President Eric Adams (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)