By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — A Harlem apartment building that was taken over by tenants after it was abandoned by its landlord broke into flames on Thursday morning, according to the FDNY.
The building at 123 W. 133rd St., between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, caught fire shortly after 5:30 a.m. Thursday, and was under control a little more than an hour later, the Fire Department said.
Eighty-two-year-old Clinton Phipps, whose apartment was destroyed by the fire, said he fled his apartment Thursday morning, and has been searching for his cat, Peppy, ever since.
"The place was filled with smoke, but I didn't see any fire," Phipps said. "I'm still looking for (my) cat. I don't know where he is."
Resident Emily Pattilo, who said she is in her 80s, said residents took over the building decades earlier and that she has been collecting rent from her fellow tenants and sending it to the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Pattilo said that she is one of five apartment owners still occupying the building, which has 15 total units. Her apartment was not affected by the fire, she said.
The building is part of the HPD's Tenant Interim Lease (TIL) program, which helps tenants manage city-owned residential buildings as a low-income Co-Op, an HPD spokesman confirmed.
The HPD will evaluate the building and ensure proper renovations or repairs are made after the fire, a spokesman said.
The building also functions with the help of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), a citywide coalition of apartment buildings that have been taken over by their tenants.
UHAB organizer Cheryl Tidwell showed up at the scene Thursday afternoon, and said she hoped the city would leave the building in the Pattilo's hands, saying "she can handle a big job, I know it doesn't seem it, but she can."
She said that she was helping Phipps relocate to a neighboring building until he could return to his apartment.
There were no injuries reported, the FDNY said.
