Apartment building fire leaves 1 dead, 12 others hurt
An overnight blaze that tore through a five-story apartment building in Manhattan left one person dead and 12 civilians and firefighters injured, fire officials said Thursday.
The fire was reported around 3:30 a.m. in a building on East 93rd Street in the Yorkville neighborhood on the Upper East Side. The flames quickly spread throughout the building and, at one point, were shooting out the roof, sending burning embers onto nearby buildings. Some residents of the burning building fled into the streets in their pajamas.
One resident died, four other civilians suffered minor injuries, and a fifth had serious injuries, the FDNY said. Seven firefighters sustained minor injuries.
Officials don’t yet know where the fire started.
WCBS-TV reported a dramatic rescue of a man trapped on the fifth floor who was saved by a firefighter using a lifesaving rope.
Firefighter Jim Lee told reporters at the scene that the rope burned through 15 seconds after he and the man reached the ground.
“They lowered me down to the ground and he got medical attention,” Lee said. “I told him to stay calm and when we got down, I said, ‘I hope you enjoyed the ride.’ He sort of smiled and he was thankful.”
Firefighters had extinguished the blaze by early Thursday morning.
The fire forced the closure of 93rd Street between First and Second avenues. First Avenue is closed between 91st and 94th streets.