‘Saw everything in flames’
5 residents, 8 Bravest injured in East Harlem apt. fire
A massive fire tore through an East Harlem apartment building Saturday, injuring five residents and eight firefighters, officials said.
The blaze erupted inside a fourth-floor apartment at the six-story E. 120th St. building near First Ave. about 9:15 a.m. and quickly spread to two upper floors, officials said.
Sharai Isler, 22, said the blaze started under her bed in her family’s fourth-floor apartment. “I ran out and yelled, ‘There’s an actual fire,’ ” she said.
“My mom tried to pull the bed from the wall — she thought it would help in some way — tried to get some water or something. But that’s when the smoke started to fill the room,” she said.
“It was like a small but ferocious fire. There was no smell or anything until we already saw it under the bed. ... Whatever it was under the bed had to be very small.”
Isler said she and her family called 911 and banged on doors to get people out of the building.
Angela Jimenez was just getting up when she smelled smoke in her apartment.
“When I opened the window to look out — that’s when I saw the flames in the apartment below us,” said Jimenez, 47.
“I immediately started screaming, ‘Everybody get up! Get up!’ and I grabbed my granddaughter.”
Jimenez and her 3-year-old granddaughter scrambled out of the home along with her two daughters, her daughter’s boyfriend, and their pet rabbit, Lily. A few moments later, they watched as firefighters raced into the building.
“We saw everything going up in flames, and then we started seeing [the firefighters] break the windows,” Jimenez recalled. “Smoke was coming out of our apartment. [My daughter] caught a panic attack. I caught a panic attack. They took me to the hospital.”
Jimenez was treated for smoke inhalation at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was one of two residents taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Three other residents were treated at the scene. None of the injuries were considered life threatening, officials said.
Video of the fire shared with the Daily News shows a thick plumes of black smoke and red and yellow flames shooting out of the fourth-floor window.
Christal Vacchetto, 30, was also home asleep when the fire began, and stood outside in her pajamas as firefighters doused the blaze.
“My boyfriend got up to use the bathroom and heard all the commotion,” said Vacchetto. “Then water started coming through the ceiling. I thought, ‘Get out!’ ”
Firefighters needed two hours to extinguish the blaze, FDNY Deputy Chief Kevin Brennan said.
“We evacuated a few dozen people,” Brennan said. “Three apartments had a good amount of damage from fire. Others had smoke damage.”
The cause of the fire was under investigation Saturday. It was not immediately disclosed how many families were displaced, although the Red Cross was relocating families who lived in the damaged apartments.