#21 FDNY firefighters injured while battling NYC blaze

Nearly two dozen firefighters were hospitalized Saturday after battling a fierce fire in a Harlem apartment building.

The blaze erupted on the first floor of the six-story building at West 115th Street, near Morningside Park, around 7:30 a.m. and spread to the second floor, the FDNY said.

Flames shot out of the windows as 39 units and 200 fire and EMS personnel braved frigid temps battling the four-alarm blaze, the FDNY said.

“Our first units arrived in four minutes. Upon arrival, they had an advanced fire on the first floor of a six-story multiple dwelling. The fire quickly extended to all floors all the way up to the top floor …. Firefighters operated as usual with great determination, it took a while to extinguish this fire, but they did a great job,” FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Thomas Richardson said from the scene.

The fire was reported under control around 10:10 a.m. There were no fire-related injuries, officials said.

Four firefighters were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the FDNY said. Seventeen others were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries, the department said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, the FDNY said.

The six-story structure was build in 1903 and has 18 units, according to streeteasy.com.