At least 15 people were injured, including several firefighters and NYPD members. All of the injuries were considered minor. Most were from smoke inhalation.
The fire broke out at about 4:15 a.m. at the building on Mill Road in the New Dorp Beach section.
It began on the fourth floor and quickly spread to the fifth and sixth floors.
Residents heard that the fire was sparked by an unattended candle.
"A woman that lives on the fourth floor, she said she went to the laundry for two minutes and she had a candle on and her cat set the fire while she was in the laundry," said resident Maria Alvarado.
Alvarado said she ran out with her sister and two children as smoke began to fill their hallway.
"When I woke up and opened the door to my bedroom I saw the smoke in my daughter's room and I saw the fifth floor was on fire and it was going all the way up fast, terrible," she said. "We didn't know what to do, then my husband came out and started to knock the doors."
Damage to the building is extensive.
The FDNY will help residents go back into the building to go through anything they may have left.
The Red Cross is assisting those residents.