By Alexandra Cheney, Carla Zanoni and Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Staff
INWOOD — An apartment building was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a candle ignited a fire, officials said.
The fire broke out at 30 Cooper Street, right off of Academy Street, about 2:10 p.m., according to the FDNY. Eleven units responded to the scene and the fire was under control by 2: 35 p.m., the department said.
Witnesses said firefighters broke three windows to access apartment 2J and said that nearly a dozen people gathered on the fire escape and climbed down. Shattered glass from the apartment's broken windows covered an old Toyota parked in front of the building.
Ray Hernandez, 47, who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life, saw the fire and said the smoke wafted down the street to his house at 690 Academy.
“Wow. This is bad,” Hernandez said, observing the damage from outside. “They broke the windows like ‘boom’ because they had to get in and get out.”
He said that the FDNY had four ladders going up the length of the six-floor building.
Juana Martinez, 69, lives next store to the building that caught fire, and her sister lives in the apartment above the one that started the blaze.
“I came out and they broke lots of windows and there was a lot of smoke. Too much smoke,” Martinez said. “They broke the door to 2J. I think everybody is okay, but they are scared.”
