Massive fire erupts at vacant apartment building in Chelsea; 2 firefighters hurt
CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) -- Firefighters battled a massive fire that erupted at an apartment building in Manhattan on Sunday morning.
The fire broke out around 6 a.m. at a six-story building on 7th Avenue between West 22nd and 23rd streets in Chelsea.
According to the FDNY, the building where the fire started is vacant. Heavy fire was reported on the first, fifth and sixth floors of the building.
Video captures heavy flames engulfing and thick, black smoke billowing from the structure. Eyewitness News was on scene as firefighters try to get the fire under control and extinguish hotspots.
Officials say the building is unsafe for firefighters to walk on to, so the FDNY conducted searches from the tower ladders looking into the building.
"They were able to do a search from the ladders. Right now, the way that the construction is after the fire, it's unsafe for us to do a full search," said an FDNY Deputy Chief during a Sunday morning press conference.
"So from the windows, from the buckets of the tower ladders, we determined that at this time, nobody is in the building."
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries during the emergency response.
Resident Brianna Ferguson, who lives in the neighborhood, described to Eyewitness News what she saw.
"Around 6:15 a.m., I heard the fire department or the fire trucks pulling up outside, and I looked out my window and saw a bunch of smoke so I ran down and saw that building was on fire. They evacuated us probably 5, 10 minutes after that," Ferguson said.
An evacuation order for the neighboring building is currently in effect.
Nearly 200 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene to help battle the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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