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Two-Alarm Fire Injures 10 People in Inwood

By Carla Zanoni | August 23, 2010 7:26am

By Carla Zanoni

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

INWOOD — A two-alarm fire gutted three homes in a six-story apartment complex on Sunday and displaced at least six families, according to the FDNY and the American Red Cross.

The fire at 53 Vermilyea Avenue and Academy Street broke out on the fist floor around 10:49 a.m., and blackened the second and third floors above before it was quenched within an hour, fire officials said.

Firehouse Engine 95 & Ladder 36, located steps away at 29 Vermilyea Avenue, was on the scene within minutes. Large crowds filled the streets watching the flames rise.

Twitter was set ablaze with reports and images of the fire.

Lewis Serrano, 44, who has lived across the street from the site of the fire for 40 years, said a close family friend who lives in the building had to be carried out by firefighters.

“The smoke was so thick he couldn’t see anything,” he said. “This is an elderly man with diabetes who could have been seriously hurt.”

Serrano said he plans to house his friend until the man is allowed to return home.

According to a FDNY spokesman, 10 people reported injuries, including a fireman who was treated for minor injuries at Columbia Presbyterian.

Two people sustained serious injuries and were taken to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, and an additional four people were treated for minor injuries. Three other people were treated at the scene of the fire and released, a fire department spokesman said.

An American Red Cross spokeswoman reported that the fire displaced six families, but said they all declined housing services because they had alternative housing options. One person accepted monetary assistance from the emergency response agency.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation.