Murray Hill apartment fire leaves 10 hurt, prompts FDNY rescues

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A fire in a Manhattan apartment building left nearly a dozen people injured, including two firefighters, and prompted FDNY rescues.

The flames broke out just before midnight on East 37th Street in Murray Hill.

The fire started on the first floor, spreading smoke quickly throughout the building and jumping to two alarms. It destroyed several apartments, and fire officials say several fire issues made for a more dangerous situation for the other tenants.

"When we opened the door and that hall was filled with black smoke, it was a game changer," tenant Hugh McGlincy said. "And I knew we had to get to the fire escape."

McGlincy relived those first frightening moments when thick, choking smoke starting filling the hallways in his apartment building.

He was across the hall, helping put his 93-year-old mother Phyllis to bed in her apartment.

"I did carry her to the window sill, but she was good, put a sweater on," he said. "She sat in the window, and they came up and made the decision not to take her down the fire escape, but to keep her in place and just keep her out of the smoke."

But down below Phyllis in a first-floor apartment, firefighters were battling a blaze that they say had started with an unattended candle that had fallen from a table.

"It was a big fire," tentant Detta Ahl said. "A lot of flames were coming out of the window, and I was in the apartment above it...I just started having black smoke come in under the door."

Ahl immediately took the fire escape down with others. One woman was rescued by firefighters, who led her down a ladder to safety.

Another first-floor tenant tried to escape but was forced back inside. Firefighters John Patrick Wylie and Leanardo Williams entered the apartment through a window and pulled him to safety. He is now in critical but stable condition at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The tenants in that apartment where the fire started were able to escape, but fire officials say three crucial errors made the situation much, much worse.

"We think that they left the door open to the fire apartment, which caused the heavy smoke condition throughout the whole building," FDNY Deputy Chief Jerry Migliore said.

Additionally, they tried to put the fire out before fleeing the building, and fire investigators say there were no smoke detectors in the apartment.

"There is a lot of smoke damage above that, but these apartments are totally gutted," co-op president Dr. Eugene Weise said. "The walls and the ceilings collapsed."

Eight residents were injured, with the rescued man being the most seriously hurt.

"It was fortunate," McGlincy said. "Sometimes there are things that are much worse outcomes, so we were fortunate."

Two firefighters were also injured.

A man, his wife and an 11-month-old baby who live in another apartment were treated for smoke inhalation, but are expected to recover.