A five-alarm fire swept through a Manhattan apartment complex, displacing more than 40 inhabitants.
Residents and surrounding business owners are struggling to cope after the six-story building in Hamilton Heights caught fire Friday afternoon, depriving them of their homes and personal items and raising concerns about their ability to recover.
“I lost everything, most importantly my medications. I’m glad I did not die from the fire but one or two days without my medication, I hope I don’t die from that,” said Theresa Yiu, 70, a 45-year resident who shares her three-bedroom with family and her asthmatic husband.
Yiu, a diabetic who is without insulin, stated that this is the second time the building had caught fire. She now fears she will become homeless after her family leaves the hotel where they were temporarily housed after the fire.
More than 200 firemen responded to the large fire on West 145th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue shortly after 2:40 p.m., injuring five civilians and four firefighters, one of whom was gravely hurt in a 40-foot fall from a fifth-story window while battling the flames.
The first responder, who fell down a shaft behind the building, is expected to live, according to the FDNY.
According to the FDNY, about ten units were damaged as high winds blowing out of the front windows fanned the fire, which extended all the way up to the sixth floor.
Officials have not yet determined what sparked the incident, but residents believe a lithium battery ignited the flames.
A building employee stated, “95% of the fires we go to, that’s what’s causing them,” adding that management should “ban” them.