A five-alarm blaze in Upper Manhattan on Monday night injured eight firefighters.
It hit just after 5:30pm, striking a single-story commercial building on St. Nicholas Avenue at 170th Street, and went to five alarms quickly.
The fire apparently started in a 99 cent store, and burned very hot, setting fire to a bar next door. For awhile, it looked like nearby apartments were in danger of burning but fire crews kept it contained to the two businesses.
Still, the heavy smoke left scores of people out on the street, unable to go back into their apartments all evening.
Early Tuesday morning firefighters were still putting out hot spots. It took more than 200 firefighters two and half hours just to get it under control and they were still hitting it with water into the morning.
Seven of the eight firefighters injured in the blze were taken to hospitals, the eighth is being treated at the scene.
We're told that the fire department had a hard time fighting this fire because of the way the building is situated, between two five-story apartment buildings.
The investigation is on into what started it all.
