The five-alarm fire broke out around 3 a.m. at an apartment building on Cottage Avenue in Mount Vernon.
Video captures firefighters on scene as heavy flames and thick smoke billowed from the top floors and roof of the building. Firefighters used multiple ladders and water hoses to dose the flames.
Officials say the fire started inside a seventh floor unit and quickly spread through the cockloft and roof. The cockloft is the space between the top floor ceiling and the roof, and officials say the fast-moving flames continued to jump and spread despite being put out in one area.
The fury of the flames forced hundreds of residents from their homes to the street, including one woman who identified herself as Andrea.
"I was asleep and I just heard commotion," she said.
Andrea, who says she has lived at the building between Cottage and Park Avenues in Mount Vernon for 23 years, survived another fire two decades ago across town.
"I felt like this is déjà vu, what is happening and what happened. I'm in a daze, I don't believe this is happening again," she said.
The distraught mother says she was sleeping around 1:30 a.m. just doors down from the seventh floor apartment that caught fire. Officials say in the apartment's kitchen, a mother and daughter had to be quickly rescued.
"I just woke up from my sleep to find my friend who is still at the hospital, whose child is literally crying because she is traumatized," Andrea said.
Five firefighters also suffered non-life-threatening injuries while battling the fire.
Resident Erick Espinal says he was outside looking for parking when the fire started. The father recounted the frightening moments of rushing inside to save his family.
"I was outside and as soon as I saw that, I got my kids, I got my parents, and then we started at least screaming towards the building like 'fire, fire, everybody get out," Espinal said.
Between 50-75 firefighters spent more than eight hours fighting the blaze, mostly the roof on the seven-story apartment building.
"We tried making an aggressive interior attack," Mount Vernon Deputy Fire Chief James Lang said. "The fire gets into the cockloft which is a space between the top floor ceiling and underside of the roof. Once it get a headway, there's just no stopping it."
Mount Vernon Councilmember Derrick Thompson lives in an apartment building right next door. He says it is a heartbreaking situation that many residents and their families now face displacement ahead of Thanksgiving.
"As families are preparing for holidays, tragedies like this happen, and it's a sad time," Thompson said.
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard was also on scene.
"Right now, those that have been impacted are being serviced here over at the Knowles Center in Mount Vernon," the mayor said.
Meanwhile, residents like Andrea painfully watched their homes perish.
"Here I am, my apartment don't look very good. God help us," she said.
Residents of 30 Cottage apartment building displaced by the fire can find temporary housing at Holmes School, located at 195 N Columbus Ave. in Mount Vernon.
A temporary shelter is available, and the community is coming together with generous donations to support those in need.
About 150 displaced residents have registered with the Red Cross.
Authorities are now trying to determine what caused the fire as part of their investigation.
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* More Manhattan news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube