Officials say the fire started just after 4 a.m. on Kingsland Avenue. The video shows a fireball consuming the three-story Williamsburg building.
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Investigators believe the fire started on the first floor of a home while someone was cooking.
Heavy flames quickly spread to homes on both sides and to another home behind the blazing building.
One neighbor says she heard people yelling, "Get out," and when she looked outside her window, she saw the massive fire.
Susan Karass and her husband live next door and they had only a second to grab what they could and run.
"Our path was clear, like thank God there was no fire on our path, but there were just blazing flames from the actual building," Karass said.
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A few houses down, water damage forced more families out.
"We weren't told to evacuate but we knew we had to get out soon enough," neighbor Paul Capobianco said.
In total, eight families lost everything.
"Everyone that lives in that building has nothing right now, you know, they're our neighbors," neighbor Darryl LaVare said.
Most of the injuries were minor, however the injured firefighters were taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
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The flames appeared to be out but then flared up again around 7 a.m.
"It will be a very prolonged operation. We have a lot of work to do. We are...probably will hold right now, but we have a lot of overhauling to do and making sure the fire is completely out," FDNY Assistant Chief Thomas Currao said. "We literally have to strip the building away to find any concealed pockets of fire and make sure we really put out everything. We will have a presence here throughout the day."
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Fire department activity clogged local streets, backing traffic up onto the nearby Brooklyn Queens Expressway at McGuinness Boulevard.
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