The New York Sun
NEW YORK — A fast-moving fire devastated the top floor of an Upper West Side residential building yesterday, injuring eight firefighters and one resident before it was controlled.
The fire department responded to a call made just after noon from 254 W. 73rd St., a four-story brownstone between Broadway and West End Ave. The fire was extinguished relatively quickly; it was considered under control by 1:06 p.m., officials said, but not before the blaze had escalated to a two-alarm fire from a single alarm, and not before the flames had spread onto the roof of the building. A sudden strong wind helped the blaze to spread.
A tenant at 258 W. 73rd St., Rena Glickman, said the effects of the fire had reached her fourth-floor apartment. At 5 p.m. yesterday, she was dealing with water damage and two decorative windows that were blown out by fire hoses. Ms. Glickman said she was asleep when the fire started but ran out into the street as the alarm spread.
“There was just fire pouring out” of the top floor of the building two doors down, she said. “My understanding is that the whole floor is gone.”
Although the flames were confined to the fourth floor and roof of the complex, Ms. Glickman said that, from what she had seen, “I have to imagine that every apartment in that building has some damage.”
The brownstone was built in 1920 and is valued at nearly $3 million, according to NexTag real estate.
A transport to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital was organized for the eight firefighters and civilian who were injured in the fire. Officials had no word on the exact nature of their injuries but said that they were not burns and were minor in all cases.
A spokesman for the New York City Fire Department said the labor involved in controlling a fire this large, including opening walls and removing parts of the ceiling, could have led to strained muscles and similar injuries.
The Fire Marshal is investigating what caused the fire.
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