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One Person Hurt in Bronx Apartment Fire, FDNY Says

By  Trevor Kapp and Gustavo Solis | June 3, 2013 10:10am | Updated on June 3, 2013 12:03pm

  Eleven firefighters and a civilian were injured during a fire in a Bronx apartment building.
Bronx Apartment Fire
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NORWOOD — An early morning fire tore through a Bronx apartment building Monday, injuring one person, officials said.

The blaze broke out at 6:11 a.m. on the top floor of the six-story building at 66 West Gun Hill Road, near West Mosholu Parkway in Norwood, and burned for more than three hours, the FDNY said.

More than 30 units of 138 firefighters responded and put the fire out just before 9:30 a.m., an FNDY spokesman said.

Five injured firefighters were taken to North Central Bronx Hospital, where their condition was not immediately known, the FDNY said. Another six suffered minor injuries and were not hospitalized, while a civilian was hurt but refused medical treatment.

''I saw smoke in the hallway and in the door. Somebody in the hallway was screaming, 'Fire, fire,'" said Lucania Grullon, 35, who lives on the sixth floor. "My knees buckled and my heart was pounding."

Grullon and her two sons, ages 4 and 12, left the building unharmed, but the family's apartment was destroyed, she said. 

Residents stood outside and cried as they saw their homes being engulfed by flames, said Cathleen Nance, 47, who lives on the fifth floor.

''[Firefighters] were on the ladders shooting water, they were in the hallways with the axes," said Osiris Collado, 57, who lives on the fourth floor. "They were running, walking, breaking doors to get people out, everything."

The cause of the fire was under investigation, the FDNY spokesman said.