Dozens Injured in New York City Blaze

A raging fire in a Bronx high-rise injured 41 people last night and sent hundreds of terrified residents fleeing for their lives through billowing smoke that reached to the top floors.

"Everybody was in a panic," said Elizabeth Clayborne, who had to climb nine stories down a fire escape to get out.

"It was crowded. Everyone started crying. It was horrific."

The three-alarm blaze broke out on the first floor of the 13-story building at 1749 Grand Concourse in Tremont shortly before 9 p.m. and quickly spread to the hallways, sending thick, black smoke into the stairwells.

The blaze spread quickly because the front door of the apartment where it started had been left open, officials said.

"It's one of the nastiest fires I've seen in a long time," one FDNY official said.

Five of the victims were seriously injured, officials said. One was described as in very serious condition. They are all civilians.

"I panicked. I figured there was no way out," said Sandra Fernandez, whom firefighters rescued from her second-floor apartment.

Fernandez, who was covered in soot, felt heat outside of her apartment door when her rescuers broke through a window.

"I was hysterical. I was nervous. I was crying," she said.

"It was pitch-black."

Melvin Allen, 26, who also lives on the second floor, heard "chaos and screaming," when he went out into the hall.

"People were screaming, 'Call my mother! Call my cousin!' " he said.

One distraught woman screamed out, "My baby!" Allen said.

Ten firefighters were injured. Five were taken to New York Hospital, five to Jacobi.

The blaze was among four major Easter Sunday fires citywide:

* Also in the Bronx, two people were hospitalized for serious cases of smoke inhalation after a trash fire on the first floor of a Webster Avenue apartment building late last night.

* An elderly man was clinging to life after a blaze in his Queens home last night. Neighbors on 63rd Avenue in Little Neck said the identified victim has Parkinson's disease and is cared for by a live-in nurse.

* On Staten Island, a raging brush fire whipped by high winds damaged five homes.

Six firefighters, one police officer and a resident suffered minor injuries.

The four-alarm fire broke out at 1:55 p.m. in a lot 1,000 feet wide by 5,000 feet long on Seaver Avenue in Midland Beach.

"I was watching the Yankees, and just after A-Rod hit a home run, everything went black outside," said Ray Fletcher. "I ran out into the street. The block was being engulfed by flames, and I said, 'This is how I'm going to die.' "

Republished with permission of The New York Post.