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by Stacey Sager
(Chinatown-WABC) — Early Thursday morning, a three-alarm fire burned in a large hi-rise in Chinatown injuring 12 firefighters.
It is what everyone in a high-rise fears but forgets about until seeing pictures like the one we saw in Chinatown this morning around 6:30 a.m.. This blaze left a dozen firefighters injured.
Picture all of the deadly complications from a high-rise fire and you had them here. The wind today is strong and the fire broke out on the 37th floor of this 44-story building at 20 Confucius plazas. The elevators in the building broke down during the fire and firefighters said is truly amazing of all of the injuries today none was serious.
Earlier this morning, you could see the flames shooting out of the windows. Eventually the smoke and flames burst through six windows on the 37th floor of the high rise. Firefighters struggled because they had to climb 37 flights when the elevators in the building lost power.
Firefighter: "Wwe had a difficult time due to the high heat and smoke conditions. The door to the apartment eventually became warped due to the heat."
They had to burst through a wall to fight the fire and many were overcome with smoke or suffered minor scrapes. Meanwhile, residents learned of the fire in unusual ways.
Resident: "We heard glass falling at 6:00 a.m. this morning. We heard it crashing down"
And believe it or not, some residents learned of the fire from watching the news on television.
Resident: "It is amazing to live in the building and not know. I thought, 'that is my building, I have to get out of here!"
Dozens of residents were trying to get back in their apartment at noon and there are concerns about flood damage and structural damage near the fire.
None of the injuries are serious sustained from this fire and fire marshals don't believe the fire is suspicious.
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