April 11--NEW YORK--Over 200 firefighters responded to a five-alarm fire at an apartment building in Elmhurst on Tuesday night, with 11 of the city's bravest suffering minor injuries.
The fire broke out around 6:30 p.m. near the roof of the building and spread to the apartments below, displacing dozens of residents. No tenants were injured in the blaze, which lasted for several hours and is currently under investigation. Officials believe the fire started somewhere between the ceiling of the top floor and the roof.
The injured firefighters were expected to be OK, officials told WABC News.
"The tragedy here though is extensive damage to 112 apartments," FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard told ABC.
The FDNY later tweeted that their efforts saved 60 apartments in the building. The department, which used a drone in its efforts to tackle the rooftop blaze, said all 10 units on the building's sixth floor were completely consumed by the fire. Displaced residents were being cared for by the Red Cross at a nearby elementary school, according to ABC.
Abishek Chandiramani, a tenant on the fifth floor, was among them.
"My wife is pregnant," Chandiramani told WNBC News through tears. "We have no home, nothing. We have to stay the whole night here outside."
Chandiramani said he believes most of his possessions are gone.
"I have only my phone," he said. "I came with my slippers. I don't have nothing."
Fellow resident Ken Taylor faced the same terrible reality.
"All I could think about was my whole life was gone," he told NBC.
There was a silver lining for Taylor, who added that his two dogs were rescued from the fire.