Fire Rips Through SoHo Apartment Building, Jumps To 2 Other Buildings

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An extra-alarm fire broke out in an apartment building in SoHo Tuesday evening, and four firefighters were injured battling the blaze.

As CBS2's Tracee Carrasco reported, the fire started around 8 p.m. Tuesday on the top floor of the six-story building at 51 Greene St., and jumped to two other buildings.

The fire quickly grew to three alarms, sending more crews and equipment to attempt to put the blaze out.

No one was home in the apartment where the fire started. The fire also has a commercial business on the ground.

Photos and video from the scene showed a fire raging on the roof of the building.

The FDNY said the fire jumped to the buildings on either side of the building where it started. Residents of those neighboring buildings said they saw the flames and got out as quickly as they could.

"I could smell smoke and I just saw red up against the window, and I ran out the door," said Tamra Sanford. "I wasn't going to stick around to find out. There were embers coming off the roof."

"They were pretty big. It was warm in the room. You could smell smoke -- I was thinking it might come into our apartment if it didn't get contained," said Emily Towner of SoHo.

FDNY Manhattan Borough Cmdr. Roger Sakowich said crews were in for a challenge with the fire spreading to multiple buildings.

"We had fire then on the top floor of three buildings. We were able to get lines to the fire building very quickly and knock down the initial fire, but it had already extended to the buildings on the left and right," Sakowich said.

The fire was extinguished by 8:30 p.m. The FDNY said four firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Due to heavy smoke near the scene, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene urged area residents to avoid outdoor activities or to stay indoors and keep windows closed during the blaze, 1010 WINS reported.

Late Tuesday night, it was too early in the investigation to tell what started the fire.