Audrey Bustos and her dog, Nyla, were left out in the cold.
"I have a couple of friends, I'm going to a friend's house. But thank God I have a lot of support system here. But everyone else, I don't know what they're going to do," Bustos said.
Tenants scrambled and quickly gathered belongings into garbage bags, and firefighters worked into the bitter cold night to get the fire under control.
"Initial units got here in under four minutes and discovered a fire in apartment 6H. And it quickly extended to the cockloft area and spread to adjoining apartments," FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Joseph Duggan said.
The flames could be spotted shooting through the roof of the building on 1520 Sheridan Avenue around 3 p.m.
Bustos lives right across the hall from where the fire broke out.
"It was horrible, it was like a huge fire, it was just in front of our apartment," she said.
Eyewitness News spoke with one family who was not home when the fire broke out, but returned to find their building on fire.
They experienced the heart-stopping moment of realizing their pets were still inside.
"It was just smoky, you could barely breathe in there. They were all shaking. They were all nervous, too," one of them said.
In all, two residents, three firefighters, and four police officers suffered minor injuries, many from smoke inhalation.
The night proved tragic in more than one way as first responders also discovered the body of a 73-year-old woman while responding to the fire.
"It is currently a separate incident, unrelated to the fire, and under investigation by NYPD," Duggan said.
Meanwhile, residents were left feeling helpless.
"Yeah, because it's my house. I mean, I don't know what is going to happen. If we can go or if we lose something," one resident said.
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