by KERRY BURKE and ETHAN ROUEN
An overloaded power strip sparked a three-alarm blaze in a lower East Side apartment Thursday, but the panicked reaction by residents was responsible for many of the 46 injuries, fire officials said.
Terrified residents tried to escape the smoky fire by riding elevators and running down stairs at the Grand St. building.
The apartment walls of the complex are fire-resistant so blazes cannot spread, according to Deputy Fire Chief James Daly, who said most tenants should have stayed put.
"The stairwells, hallways and elevators are danger areas," Daly explained. "These are where people get hurt and get killed. Last night we had people self-evacuate."
Daly said it's safer to put a towel under the door to block smoke from seeping inside individual apartments and then wait at a window for firefighters.
Only two of the 20 injured tenants were seriously hurt. Some 26 firefighters suffered minor injuries, Daly said.
Tenant Jonathan Cintron, 21, said he was in a building elevator when its doors suddenly opened on the floor where the fire was burning about 7:30 p.m.
"We had to fight through to the stairs," said Cintron, who did not need medical treatment. "It was like swimming in hell."
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