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Family Left Homeless After Fire Tears Through 182nd Street Apartment

 A fire at 569 W. 182nd St. sent three people to the hospital on Monday afternoon.
Fire Tears Through First Floor of 182nd Street Building
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WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Three people — including a child — were hospitalized and a family was left homeless after a fire broke out at a West 182nd Street building Monday afternoon, the FDNY and witnesses said.

The blaze began at about 3 p.m. in a first-floor apartment at 569 W. 182nd St. and was brought under control by 3:38 p.m., the FDNY and witnesses said.

Two adults were taken to Harlem Hospital with minor injuries, the FDNY said. A child was taken to Harlem Hospital in serious condition due to his or her age, the fire department said.

No other information about the victims was immediately available, though a witness said none of them came from the apartment where the fire started.

Jose Quezada, 25, whose mother lives in the apartment where the blaze ignited, said he was the only person in the unit at the time. He heard a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen even though no one was cooking at the time, and less than a minute later the apartment started filling with smoke, he explained.

"It just happened in like 20 seconds — from nothing to boom," he said.

Quezada called 911 and fled the building.

Around the same time, Victor Hernandez, 32, and his father, who both work as supers in the building, looked at the building's security monitors and noticed that the lobby was filling with smoke, Herdnandez said. They also called 911.

Mercedes Cabrera, 63, who has lived in the building for five years, said she and a friend smelled smoke in the first-floor hallway that morning.

"We we came outside to buy something, we said, 'There's something going on because it smells like smoke,'" Cabrera said.

They knocked on the door of a friend who lives on the first floor around 10 a.m. to make sure that everything was OK, but the woman was not home at the time, Cabrera said.

They did not report the incident because they did not see any smoke and the smell had gone away when they returned a short time later, she said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, fire officials at the scene said.

The building has six open violations from the Department of Buildings, all for failing to file annual boiler inspection reports. The first violation was issued in 1993, while the most recent one was issued in 2009.

In November 2014, the DOB approved a permit to replace the building's boiler.

Hernandez said it will take "a while" to fix the apartment, which also houses Quezada's stepfather and two other relatives.

Three other apartments suffered water damage and broken windows, Hernandez added.

Quezada said his family will come to stay with him in New Jersey while repairs are being made.

"Let me tell you, it's not looking pretty in there," he said. "But at the end of the day, we're all safe."