Dozens of people were injured in a massive fire that broke out on Staten Island early Thursday morning.
Nearly 200 firefighters battled the blaze that broke out in a building on Chestnut Avenue at around 1 a.m., CBS New York reported. Panic ensued during the fire that spread from one building to three townhouses, resulting in 34 people being injured and two children being tossed out of a window.
No one was killed in the five-alarm fire.
The FDNY told the station that most of the 23 firefighters and 11 civilians injured were taken to the hospital to receive treatment. Most suffered minor to severe injuries but one adult is being treated for heart problems and is in serious condition, NBC New York reported.
"There was a tremendous amount of fire," Fire Chief Pete Leicht told the station.
A man and his fiancé were on the sidewalk when he heard another man screaming for someone to catch his children from a second floor window.
"The father was stuck up there...he couldn't do anything- black smoke was just billowing out that window," Anthony DiSimone, who lived on the same block as the fire, told the Staten Island Advance. "So I went underneath- he threw him right to me and I caught his son."
DiSimone's fiancé was able to catch the other child. Both children- reportedly ages 3 and 5, were OK but were taken to the hospital for a checkup.
"If I was up there with a child, he could have done the same for me so you really don't think too much, you just act," DiSimone told CBS New York.
The parents were later rescued by firefighters. Other residents also escaped the blaze thanks to latters firefighters put up to the windows. By 7p.m. the fire was subdued, officials said.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the blaze.
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