September 19, 2003 -- A four-alarm blaze that gutted a popular Brighton Beach restaurant and injured 20 people is considered suspicious, fire officials said yesterday.
The fire erupted at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at 3152 Brighton Beach Sixth St. on the boardwalk, the Fire Department said.
In addition to the Tatiana restaurant - a boardwalk eatery popular with the Brooklyn neighborhood's Russian community - the fire damaged the facade on higher floors of the six-story apartment building, officials said. Nearly two dozen families who live in the upper-floor apartments were forced to shelter elsewhere Wednesday night because of the fire.
Forty fire units and about 180 firefighters responded to the blaze, which was under control by 11:52 p.m.
Sixteen firefighters and one civilian went to hospitals with injuries, and one firefighter remained hospitalized in stable condition yesterday, an FDNY spokesman said.
About 200 restaurant customers were seated outside at tables when fire began creeping up from below the boardwalk, according to a witness.
"I started seeing smoke coming from under the carpet, so I got up to see what it was, and in a matter of seconds, fire shot up around that table, and within a few seconds, it was covering everything, the front of the building, all the tables," said Anna Bakhrakh, 32.
Tatiana Varzar, owner of the six-year-old restaurant, speculated that the fire was started by homeless people who typically congregate under the boardwalk to either cook or get warm. She said their presence has been a chronic problem, and that she has complained about them to police.
"I've tried to chase them away," Varzar said tearfully, as she stood outside her gutted restaurant. "It's been constant ever since I owned the place. Yesterday, they were cooking food under there. The next thing I know, my place is on fire."
An insurance adjuster on the scene, who did not want to give his name, said, "I can tell you definitely it [ the fire] did start underneath."
The Fire Department confirmed the blaze began under the boardwalk and went up into the restaurant but said the cause remains under investigation by fire marshals. The fire's origin is considered suspicious because of the volume of fire at the time firefighters arrived on the scene.
