One firefighter suffered minor injuries while battling a blaze inside a commercial building on West Farms Rd. early Thursday morning.
FDNY says they were alerted of a fire at 1717 West Farms Rd. at 1:52 a.m. on Thursday. Crews arrived at the scene in four minutes and determined the fire was on the second floor of the commercial building.
FDNY Battalion Chief Christopher Coppola told News 12 approximately 100 firefighters responded to the fire. The injured firefighter was treated at the scene by EMS.
“On arrival, we had heavy fire out the second-floor windows of the fire building. Units, we started to do an interior attack, but due to the volume of fire and the construction of the building, we pulled the members out,” said Coppola.
Coppola says the intensity of the flames forced firefighters to work on the fire from the outside. Citizen video shows crews on ladder trucks attacking the flames from an elevated position, dousing the structure with water.
The fire chief says no one was inside during their response. Fire Marshall’s are investigating the cause of the fire and working to get in touch with the building's owner.
In a statement to News 12, a spokesperson for The Department of Buildings says they have issued a full vacate order after noticeable fire damage, including "an open roof, and a section of the building that had separated from the main structure."
In the meantime, Con Edison has shut off the building's gas.