The fire had clearly gotten a head start, officials say, beginning in a three story building on Van Nest Avenue, with flames shooting out from the roofline.
It then jumped to a second two story building.
200 firefighters were working the blaze outside and inside when suddenly two firefighters were caught in a ceiling collapse.
The firefighters were pulled from the building and frantically attended to by other firefighters and paramedics.
They were both put on stretchers and quickly rushed to Jacobi Hospital. They were listed in stable condition on Sunday morning.
They were lucky, officials say, to have had other firefighters nearby.
"The firefighters just missed getting hit by the floor above them, so they were inside the building with them," said Assistant FDNY Chief Ron Spadafora.
"We also had firefighters from the rear of the building coming in that way, so we had a pretty good group of firefighters working in that area."
When the fire started residents of the first building, eyewitnesses reveal, managed to escape but with injuries.
Daniel Rodriguez saw two of the victims.
"She was going crazy, they had to put her in an ambulance," he said. "The other lady's house that caught on fire also had to be put in an ambulance."
Diana DeJesus's daughter Amy Santiago barely escaped.
"She's not doing too good. She lost everything that she had," said DeJesus.
"She lost her kids stuff and everything. They're safe, thank God."
Bernice Sanchez had come back from shopping to face her worst nightmare, her apartment building fully engulfed in flames.
"I came home to my stuff gone, everything is gone," she said.
And the $5,000 in new furniture she bought a month ago..up in smoke.
"Everything you work hard for is just gone in a split of a second," Sanchez said.
"Thank God I have family and my friends to support me in this right now. It's just hard."
Michael Brea rushed to the scene looking for his finace.
"I thought she was stuck in the fire," Brea said. "When I come it was blazing all over the place. She was out safe."
Bernice Sanchez and the others left without their apartments are now being helped by the Red Cross.
She and her son, though, are safe.
"I just hope everybody came out safe," she said. "That's what matters. We are all alive. Let's see what happens now."
At least a dozen people have been left without homes.
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