Alberta Blackwell, 82, died in her Harlem apartment in the 8:23 a.m. fire, despite desperate attempts by longtime companion James Bugg to save her.
"Flames were shooting out of her bed," said Bugg, who was wrapped in a blanket and recovering from his injuries in Harlem Hospital several hours after the tragedy.
Bugg said he rushed into Blackwell's room to look for her after realizing their building at West 111th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard was on fire. But not seeing her and hoping she had already escaped from the first-floor apartment, he then ran out to the street.
Neighbors remembered Blackwell, known as "Miss Alberta," as a quiet, cheerful woman, who lived in the building for more than 30 years.
"She meant a lot to all of us here," said Ty Drake, 30, whose upstairs apartment was engulfed in smoke.
Drake had fled the building with her three kids via the fire escape, and looked on as firefighters rescued her grandmother from the third floor of the five-story building.
The two-alarm blaze, which began with a burning cigarette in a sofa in a first-floor apartment, left six residents, including Bugg, and three firefighters with minor injuries, a FDNY spokesman said. According to the Red Cross, four apartments were rendered uninhabitable.
Another fire yesterday also claimed the life of an unidentified man in a vacant Brooklyn warehouse - the same spot where a squatter died in a blaze about a month ago, an FDNY source said.
Firefighters responded to the fire at the two-story building in the Gravesend section around 3 a.m. Investigators believe the blaze was started by the man to keep warm.
In addition, at least five other fires occurred between 7 p.m. Saturday and yesterday evening, but fire officials said call volume for fires this weekend was normal. They added that the blazes, which are under investigation, couldn't all be blamed on the weekend's cold weather.
In one of the five additional blazes, three firefighters - including a battalion chief who fell down a flight of steps - and two civilians were injured in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.
In another incident, a lit cigarette could be responsible for an early-morning fire inside a six-story, East New York building.
A second-floor resident may have caused the fire when he fell asleep while smoking, according to a building manager for the New Lots Avenue property.
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