By Marina Lopes and Tom Liddy
DNAinfo Reporters
MANHATTAN — Four people were injured when a raging electrical fire erupted in a Harlem building early Saturday morning, officials said.
The fire broke out on the fifth floor of 370 Manhattan Ave. just before 5 a.m. and quickly went to a second alarm.
Lorraine Robinson, 61, said the fire stemmed from an outlet in the bedroom of her fifth floor apartment where she has lived for 40 years, but spread rapidly.
"We were trying to put it out," she said. "But the flames were coming so we left."
With the fire escape blocked by the blaze, she and her husband, Izell, 47, were forced to run down the stairs.
"Everything's gone," she added. "We were not able to get anything."
Sutapa Mukherjee, 28, a teacher who lives next door to the Robinsons, was awoken by her dog, Dusty, barking.
"Our dog saved our lives," she said. "We were sleeping and we heard the alarms go off. The dog started barking really loudly."
Thinking that someone had pulled the fire alarm, her fiance, Shaun Holbrook, 28, went to let the dog out, but smoke poured into the apartment as soon as he opened the door.
"I grabbed the dog and went down the fire escape," Mukherjee said. "The fire department did a great job."
Firefighters Brian Murphy, of Ladder 26, a 10-year veteran, and Chris Fields, of Ladder 40, an eight-year veteran, could be seen rescuing a baby from the sixth floor of the building.
Property manager Edwin Algarin said two kids received first degree burns because the fire escape was so hot, said property manager.
The fire was placed under control about an hour later, officials said.
Two residents as well as two firefighters went to St. Luke's Hospital for minor injuries. Two other residents refused medical attention.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
