"It's just madness inside," Lt. John Eccleston said after the flames were finally extinguished on Jewett Ave. in Port Richmond. "It was the worst private dwelling fire I've seen in 25 years. We could see the glow from a half mile away."

Two Staten Island brothers were killed and nine firefighters were injured when a predawn inferno destroyed a home within minutes on Saturday morning.

"My boys are gone. My boys are gone," the victims' mother wept as she surveyed the charred hulk where her sons perished.

A fire official said the fast-moving blaze was "hot, smoky, dangerous, confusing and blinding" and left behind nothing but blackened debris.

"It's just madness inside," Lt. John Eccleston said after the flames were finally extinguished on Jewett Ave. in Port Richmond.

"It was the worst private dwelling fire I've seen in 25 years. We could see the glow from a half mile away."
The cause of the 4:30 a.m. blaze was unknown and pinpointing it was difficult because the damage was so extensive.

Neighbors said the victims - whose names were not released - didn't have a chance if they were sleeping when the flames erupted.

"The whole front of the house was a complete fireball," said Billy Siverson, 47, who lives across the street on Jewett Ave.

"You couldn't get in there to save anyone. There was just way too much fire."

Tow truck driver Pete Puleo, 43, was driving down the street around 4:30 when he spotted the raging fire.

"It was like the movie 'Backdraft,'" he said. "Flames were double the size of the house. It was like planes had dropped bombs on top of the houses."

The fire quickly spread to adjacent two-story homes as firefighters ran down the street evacuating panicked residents.

"My 17-year-old kicked in my bedroom door at 4:40 and yelled, 'Fire! Everyone get out!'" said Christina Kramer, 46, whose house was damaged.

"I just grabbed my cat and my dog and my kids and got out..I thought I was having a heart attack.

"Everyone was screaming in the street because no one knew who had gotten in or out."

Nine firefighters suffered minor injuries.

"The firemen are OK," said Eccleston. "Let's just think about the victims right now."

A woman wrapped in a Red Cross blanket broke down at the scene, wailing, "My brothers! My brothers!"

The mother of the girlfriend of one of the victims said he had a 3-year-old son. "He loved his son so much," Gloria Amis said. "He was so happy to be a father."