One Dead in 4-Alarm Manhattan Fire

NEW YORK—A late afternoon four-alarm fire in Manhattan’s Hamilton Heights left one person dead and emptied at least twenty other apartments on Monday.

People reportedly jumped to safety after firefighters broke out their windows while getting the fire under control.

The fire at 512 West 136th Street was in the first, second, and fourth floors, according to the fire department. 

Outside after the fire was under control, residents from the first and second floors, who would not give their names, stood helplessly behind yellow safety tape watching a fire hydrant spray water into the air.

One woman described seeing firefighters work against the fire.

“They broke every window, bang, bang, bang,” said the first floor tenant, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

Other distraught tenants and residents of nearby buildings, including children, filled the sidewalk and watched their neighborhood fill with emergency responders and Red Cross workers.

It took firefighters about 90 minutes to put out the fire in the brick building which faces PS 192, Jacob H. Schiff School.