1 dead, 17 injured in apartment fire in Harlem

One person died and at least 17 people were injured in a two-alarm fire that destroyed an apartment building in Harlem’s Hamilton Heights neighborhood on Friday, authorities said.

Firefighters responded to a call at 2:14 p.m. at 2 St. Nicholas Place, a six-story apartment building with 25 units, officials said. According to fire officials, the fire started on the third floor and quickly spread to the floors above.

Twelve people were taken to New York Health and Hospitals Harlem, police said; five were in critical condition. One person died at the hospital, according to Joseph Pfeifer, the fire department’s first deputy commissioner.

When firefighters arrived, several residents were on the building’s fire escapes and three people were trapped, hanging from fifth-floor windows. Three firefighters were lowered from the roof on ropes to help them.

“I told them not to jump, that we are coming down to save them,” firefighter Chris Lopez, who was involved in the rescue effort, said at a news conference Friday evening.

John Hodgens, department head of the fire brigade, said at the press conference that firefighters usually carry out one or two rope rescues per year. One person jumped out of a window just before firefighters arrived, Chief Hodgens said. Separately, three people were found unconscious on the sixth floor, he said.

Commissioner Pfeifer described the fire as “very challenging” and said it had blown into the hallways above the third floor, trapping many residents in their apartments. Mayor Eric Adams, who also spoke at the news conference, called the firefighters’ actions “heroic.”

Regina Shaw, 58, said she was in her apartment on the building’s sixth floor with her son, Samuel, 24, and two dogs when she heard smoke detectors blaring. She ran to her kitchen window, saw smoke coming from her neighbor’s apartment and called 911.

Mrs Shaw said she and her son grabbed the dogs and tried to leave, but the hallway was filled with smoke. They retreated to their apartment, crawled into Mr. Shaw’s bedroom and watched as firefighters climbed ladders to enter a neighbor’s apartment from outside.

Nearly an hour passed, Ms. Shaw said, before firefighters reached her apartment from the building. They led the family through the smoky black hallways to the street.

On the first floor, Shaeyla Almonte, 18, was in her bedroom when she smelled smoke and heard what sounded like something breaking outside. She said she ran into the kitchen, where her brother told her the air conditioner had caught fire. They pushed him out the window.

“It was really scary,” she said.

Mrs. Almonte looked out the window and saw the smoke and fire above them. She heard people shouting for help and ‘fire!’ call. She and her family quickly picked up their dog and left.

As the afternoon wore on, residents sat outside the building in a small pavilion, wrapped in Red Cross blankets. An empty city bus was used as a shelter for people to keep warm.

“I was worried about you!” one woman shouted to the other.

The second woman said she got out safely. She was sitting next to two young children.

“Thank God they were in school,” she said.