By Alexandra Cheney and Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Staff
UPPER WEST SIDE — A fire in an Upper West Side apartment building Friday morning causing the evacuation of some residents and sent one firefighter to the hospital with a minor injury, the FDNY said.
The fire broke out in a vacant apartment on the eighth floor of 164 West 79th, off of Amsterdam Avenue, at 9:49 a.m. The FDNY had the fire under control by 10:09 a.m., according to the FDNY.
The street was closed off and nearly a dozen fire trucks gathered outside the building as firefighters took out the windows of apartment 8C and pumped water inside.
"It was pretty scary — not exciting," said Silvia Rivera, who has lived in the building for the last 23 years and is the wife of the building's super. "There was a lot of water coming into the basement as the firemen put it out."
The apartment was under renovation, Rivera said.
"My husband did the floors yesterday and that could have played a part in the fire," she said.
One firefighter was sent from the scene to St. Luke's Hospital with what appeared to be a thumb injury.
The FDNY is still investigating the cause of the fire.
