A fast-moving fire tore through a Harlem brownstone, killing two men, injuring one and forcing neighbors to run for their lives, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The fire erupted at the home on West 132nd Street between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Lenox Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Friday, cops said.
One man died at the scene and another was rushed to Harlem Hospital but couldn’t be saved, officials said.
Their ages and identities weren’t immediately released.
FDNY workers rescue men and women who had to evacuate because of a fast-moving fire Friday night. Robert MeceaAbout 100 FDNY members were on hand to fight the fire, officials said.
“I was at my desk and I saw smoke coming out of the chimney in my room,” Aidan Curtis, who lives next door, said.
“I wasn’t sure what it was so I went over to my brother, woke him up. I looked outside my window and there was orange everywhere.”
Firefighters carry out an injured man after a Harlem fire. Robert MeceaHe then woke his parents and they all ran out the front door, he said.
His father, Sean Curtis, said the building where the fire started was a single-room occupancy residence.
“There are three or four people living there,” said the elder Curtis, whose family has lived on the block for eight months.
A firefighter fights flames in Harlem on Saturday. Robert Mecea“We saw two people jump out of a window safely.”
The cause of the fire was under investigation, officials said.
Neighbor Gabrielle Baker, who has lived on the block for more than 20 years, said she heard glass breaking.
Firemen and others after late night blaze in Harlem. Robert Mecea“Then I started hearing a lot of voices saying ‘Fire! Fire!’” she recalled.
“I looked out the top window and I could see from the top all the flames.”
The first thing she thought of was her 98-year-old mother who lives on the first floor.
Someone is loaded into an ambulance after the fire. Robert Mecea“I said ‘Get my mom out’ and grabbed her, and then I’m looking saying ‘Now how do I get out?’ When I opened the door, all of the embers from the fire and glass was falling,” she recalled.
The two made it out and hunkered down across the street until firefighters arrived.
“This is very unfortunate,” she said.
“I’m very sad that people lost their lives.”
Dorin Hammond, 41, was outside the house after the fire and said he was mourning his friend who died in the blaze.
“We’re hurting right now,” Hammond told reporters.
“I still can’t say that this is real. I just saw him Wednesday and was getting ready to give a turkey and some food so he could participate in the holiday.”
