By Ben Fractenberg and Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST HARLEM — A man was brought to the hospital in "extremely" critical condition after a fire broke out in East Harlem Wednesday afternoon, FDNY said.
The fire department arrived at 1407 Park Ave. shortly before 2 p.m., where there was a blaze in Apartment 3G. One injured man was found in the apartment. Firefighters performed CPR on the man for 10 minutes before he was taken to Mt. Sinai in extremely critical condition, FDNY said.
"His whole body was burnt. They were trying to resuscitate him," said Kizzy Picott, who lives on the eighth floor of the building. Picott said she watched FDNY bring the man through the lobby on a stretcher and perform CPR on him.
"His body was charred," the shaken neighbor said.
Johan Pinto, 25, lives on the 16th floor of the building and said he was the one who called 911. He said he was walking his dog just before 2 p.m. when he noticed the smoke coming out of the third floor.
"It was a lot of black smoke coming out of the window," Pinto said.
Fire trucks lined the street and Park Avenue was closed down between 103rd and 105th streets as firefighters fought the blaze on the third floor of the 18-story building.
The windows of the third floor were smashed in, and the charred apartment could be seen from the outside.
The fire was under control about 2:23 p.m., FDNY said. They said they were still investigating the cause of the fire.
The identity of the injured man was not released.
