June 28--New York City firefighters tackled a massive five-alarm apartment building fire Wednesday night in the East Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
The FDNY tweeted that members were on scene at 60 East 9th Street at around 5:30 p.m. It took roughly two hours for the blaze to be brought under control with over 200 fire and EMS personnel responding.
Sixteen firefighters were treated for minor injuries once the fire was contained.
New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said firefighters used a "very aggressive interior attack" and that smoke banked down and obscured the surrounding buildings, so "members really had their work cut out for them."
WPIX reported that flames could be seen shooting from the roof of the building in the famed neighborhood.
"We're investigating now the possibility that the fire may have started in a deli on the first floor, and traveled up a shaft to the top floor. It quickly spread to the space between the top floor ceiling and the roof that we call the cockloft," Commissioner Nigro said.
