Fire Breaks Out in East Village Apartment Building Updated November 29, 2010 12:54pm

The entrance to 213 E. 10th St. (DNAinfo/Olivia Scheck)

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

EAST VILLAGE — A small fire broke out in an East Village apartment building Monday morning, but there were no reported injuries.

The blaze erupted on the fifth floor of 213 E. 10th St. about 8:45 a.m., fire department officials said.

A neighbor who lives directly underneath the apartment where the blaze started said he was awoken by firefighters breaking into his home just as embers started falling down from his ceiling.

"Apparently, I was lucky. The woman upstairs was just about to leave for work when she noticed the fire," said Michael McHugh, 54. "It was spreading to the floor when she called the fire department."

The fire damaged the ceiling of the apartment below. (DNAinfo/Olivia Scheck)

The woman who lives in the apartment where the fire started declined to comment.

Authorities said the fire was caused by an extension cord wrapped around a radiator, according to The New York Times blog The Local East Village.