FDNY firefighters battle stubborn apartment fire on Upper East Side​on January 28, 2025 at 10:10 am

UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) — Firefighters battled a stubborn blaze at an apartment building on the Upper East Side on Monday afternoon.

The fire broke out just before 12:30 p.m. at an eight-story residential building located at 160 E. 91st St. in Yorkville. Citizen App video showed flames shooting through the roof.

The blaze burned in the walls of the third floor all the way up into the cockloft — the area between the top ceiling and the roof.

Roughly 150 firefighters worked to extinguish the flames and one firefighter was being treated for a minor injury.

“This was a labor-intensive fire for the fire department,” said FDNY Assistant Chief John Sarrocco. “We stretched multiple handlines, eight to nine hose lines into the building, and we had to expose fire on every one of those floors by pulling the ceiling and opening the walls and extinguishing fire.”

While some residents were able to escape with a few of their treasures, the Buildings Department has now issued a vacate order for at least a dozen apartments.

Odelia Adout came home from work on Monday only to learn she could not enter her apartment building

“It’s horrible. Really terrible. Literally, I was at work, and I came here. Seeing this was scary,” Adout said.

The Red Cross is helping with emergency housing.

Fortunately, no tenants were injured.

Fire marshals are working to determine what sparked the fire.

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