DEVELOPING STORY: More than three dozen people were injured after a fire caused by a lithium-ion battery broke out on the 20th floor of a New York City apartment building on Saturday morning.
“It was horrible, there were people hanging out of the window and everything — just terrible,” said one FDNY officer at the scene.
Click here to download Todd’s free podcast – now with more than 1 million listeners.
“I ran down all 26 flights of stairs,” Igor Mihailevschi , 63, told The New York Post. “Everybody was screaming and there was smoke everywhere and I looked out the window and saw someone waving at me to get out.”
Thirty-eight people were injured, including five members of the service, EMS Chief Joseph Pataky said during a press conference.
There are likely to be more injuries as more families “come down and are evaluated by EMS,” Pataky said.
“It was a little stressful and scary going down the stairs while the firefighters were going up the stairs, because we didn’t know what was going on at the time,” said Allie Gold, 26, who has lived with her boyfriend on the 10th floor at Rivercourt for 18 months. “I grabbed my dog that’s literally it.”
The New York City Fire Department responded to several calls about a fire in an apartment building, located in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood, with multiple people trapped after 10 a.m. Saturday. When authorities arrived, they found a heavy fire, Deputy Assistant Chief in the Fire Department of New York Frank Leeb said.
@FDNY .@FDNY #FDNY in my ENTIRE life I have never seen anything more #HEROIC than what I just witnessed from #NYC apt. Woman rescued by #NYBRAVEST #FDNY in devastating apt fire. Trying to escape smoke, she slipped, hanging 15-20 stories up. THANK U to our heroes!!!! #FDNY @FDNY pic.twitter.com/sLwqJOPGru
— Patti Ryan (@StrepGal) November 5, 2022
Manhattan *3rd Alarm* Box 0877. 429 E 52nd St off 1st Ave. Update- Fire 20th floor 27 story HRFPMD. HazMat requested for Li Ion batteries. pic.twitter.com/0LkBPVjNAY
— NYCFireWire (@NYCFireWire) November 5, 2022
— Mariusz Korecki (@MariuszKorecki) November 5, 2022
