Quantcast

Harlem fire injures 22, leaves families homeless: FDNY

voted unanimously on June 23, 2015 to designate the Stonewall Inn a city landmark. ” class=”wp-image-110768381″/>
The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously on June 23, 2015 to designate the Stonewall Inn a city landmark. Photo Credit: Ryan Kushner

Twenty-two people, including four children and 10 firefighters, were hospitalized following a two-alarm fire that erupted in a massive Harlem apartment building, Sunday morning, the FDNY said.

Firefighters began fighting the blaze in the apartments on the 16th and 17th floors of the 35-story residential Riverside Park Community building near 133rd Street shortly before 10:55 a.m. More than a hundred of the Bravest from 25 units fought the flames before extinguishing it about noon.

The Red Cross was at the scene offering assistance, food, clothing and temporary housing to the people displaced from the fire , which the organization estimated involved about four apartments. It was not immediately clear how many people were left homeless.

The injured were taken to Harlem Hospital, St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center and New-York Presbyterian Hospital, FDNY said. Two adult survivors had injuries that were serious, but not life-threatening. The other injuries — including those suffered by the four children — were minor, said an FDNY spokesman.

The steep height of the blaze made it too high to use ladders. The fire had to be fought entirely from the interior, said a spokesman. He noted that conditions of such fires are typically “brutal.” (Sheila Anne Feeney)