A 16-year-old mother died protecting her infant son yesterday morning from a fast-moving fire sparked by a candle in their Brooklyn home.
About 10 members of an extended family managed to flee the raging, two-alarm blaze that engulfed 455 E. 26th St., in the Flatbush section.
But by the time it was extinguished, Jennieve Bartholomew, 16, was dead of smoke inhalation after her heroic efforts to save her 8-month-old son, Omar Salters, family members said.
“She didn’t make it,” said cousin Marlon Bartholomew, who managed to escape the fire.
“She was covering the baby with her body. She didn’t make it, but the baby survived. They were trapped. She loved that baby. She’d do anything for that baby,” he added.
The infant was rushed to Jacobi Hospital in critical condition, where he was battling for his life last night.
“It doesn’t look too good for him,” said the cousin, referring to the injured infant.
Jennissa Charles, 2, and her brother Edward, 5, were also in critical condition at Jacobi, as was Celina Quamina, 54, the grandmother of the dead girl. Jennifer Bartholomew, 35, the mother of the dead girl and Quamina’s daughter, was in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.
Five firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
The blaze erupted at 7:14 a.m. when a candle – left burning overnight in the second-floor living room behind a couch and near an open window – ignited drapes.
Family members described themselves as devout Baptists who regularly use candles for evening religious services. Several of them emigrated from Trinidad. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the home had fire extinguishers that did not work.
He noted that in his six weeks as fire commissioner, two people had already died in fires started by candles.