Firefighters took on a five-alarm fire that ripped through several storefronts in a commercial building in Harlem early Wednesday morning.
At 3:02 a.m. on Nov. 3 FDNY personnel responded to a fire at 490 Lenox Avenue and found heavy fire conditions at the scene. The building housed a department store, bodega and leasing agency, and searches of the stores found no one inside the building. The fire escalated to a 5-alarm blaze at 6:29 a.m.
The FDNY deployed 44 units and about 198 fire and EMS personnel to the scene. Firefighters were forced out of the building and had to go into a defensive fire attack, using several hose lines and ladders to knock down the intense blaze.
The fire was brought under control at around 7:19 a.m., according to the FDNY. One fireman faced minor injuries as a result.
