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East End Avenue Penthouse Fire Injures Seven Firefighters

By DNAinfo Staff on January 8, 2012 1:13pm

Windows are boarded up in the penthouse of 2 East End Ave. after a fire there on Jan. 7, 2011.
Windows are boarded up in the penthouse of 2 East End Ave. after a fire there on Jan. 7, 2011.
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DNAinfo/Sarah Tan

By Sarah Tan and Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Reporters

MANHATTAN — A massive fire ripped through the penthouse of a luxury Upper East Side building Saturday night, injuring seven firefighters, authorities said.

The fire broke out in the triplex unit atop the nine-story building at 2 East End Ave., near East 79th Street at 7:51 p.m. and spread to the eighth and ninth floors before firefighters could contain it, according to fire officials and the doorman.

Resident Steve Hans, who has lived in the building for 20 years saw half of his apartment, directly below the penthouse, destroyed by the blaze.

"We heard a pop and then someone yelled, 'Fire,' and said they saw some amber flames," said Hans, who fled the building.

It took the 106 firefighters who raced to the scene just over an hour to get the blaze under control.

Seven firefighters suffered minor injuries.

A triplex penthouse in the building had been listed for sale at $13,500,000.  It featured a grand staircase that was modeled after the French cruise ship Normandie, according to a piece on NBC's LXTV.com.

It was not immediately clear if the penthouse that was involved in the fire was the same as the one in the listing.

The fire was deemed suspicious because there was no obvious cause, fire officials said.