An elderly couple died when a massive fire tore through their Washington Heights apartment building early Tuesday, FDNY and NYPD officials said.
The blaze broke out inside a top-floor apartment in the six-story building on W. 178th St. near Broadway, a block from the entrance to the George Washington Bridge, about 1:45 a.m.
“Upon arrival in four-and-a-half minutes we saw heavy fire venting from three windows on the top floor,” FDNY Deputy Chief of Special Operations Malcolm Moore said at the scene. “We did an aggressive interior attack and found a couple, an older male and female, inside the apartment.”
The woman was found suffering from burns and smoke inhalation in the front room, Moore said.
“Once the units battled past the heavy fire condition we found the second victim, believed to be a male, in a back bedroom,” the chief said.
The couple were taken to Harlem Hospital, where they both died, the NYPD confirmed. Their names were not immediately released.
It took more than 130 firefighters about two hours to put out the massive blaze.
Three other building residents, a firefighter, and two FDNY emergency medical technicians suffered minor injuries, FDNY officials said. The civilians were treated at the scene while the FDNY workers were treated at local hospitals.
FDNY fire marshals are investigating the cause of the fire.