Seven residents and one firefighter were hurt Sunday night in a fire at a high-rise apartment building in Tribeca that caused heavy smoke to waft throughout the lower Manhattan neighborhood, officials say.
About 150 firefighters were called to the blaze at the 39-floor building on Greenwich Street shortly before 9 p.m., according to the FDNY. Officials say the fire started in a hallway on the building's fifth floor.
The fire was brought under control at about 11 p.m., officials say.
Five of the eight people injured were taken to hospitals, firefighters say. The others were treated at the scene. All have minor injuries.
Residents trying to get out of the building said the smoke was incredibly thick and made its way through much of the building.
Henry Steimler said he and a group tried to get out of the building from the 23rd floor through the fire escape, but were met by an impassable cloud of thick black smoke at the ninth floor and had to find another exit.
"It was so black, so thick, impossible to breathe, " Steimler said. "(The fire escape) was very scary."
Local
The cause of the fire at the apartment building, which has more than 400 units, is under investigation.
It's not clear if anyone was displaced.
