Nine people suffered injuries in a massive fire in Jackson Heights on Monday, the FDNY said.
Seven firefighters suffered mostly minor injuries and were taken to local hospitals for treatment.
The fire was under control by 11:40 p.m. A total of 44 units and 200 firefighters responded. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
The quickly spreading blaze, recorded at 5:45 at 74-09 37th Ave., may have started on the third floor of a four-story building on 37th Avenue between 74th and 75th streets, the FDNY said. It was bumped up to a third alarm in less than 30 minutes as the flames engulfed the top floor. By 8 p.m. it was elevated to a fourth alarm, and it became a five-alarm blaze at 10 p.m.
Firefighters could be seen battling the blaze on ladders, pumping water into a blackened top floor window hours after it first sparked.
The building is made of up several commercial offices, including Plaza College. There is a lot of combustible material inside the building, the spokesman said.
More than 100 people gathered around the burning building.
“Nobody knows anything,” said a man who runs a food cart diagonally from the building and declined to give his name.