Neighbors said they were awakened by the smell of smoke — and heard the voices of children screaming in the building on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.
“You could hear when they would say, ‘Mom,’” said Jennifer Nunn-Stanley, who lives across the street and could hear the shouts coming from inside the building.
The Fire Department sent 65 firefighters to the site of the fire, 2441 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. But the fire commissioner, Daniel A. Nigro, said that when firefighters reached the apartment on the fifth floor where the blaze appeared to have originated, “the fire met them at the front door.”
Inside, they found the six victims — two adults and four children ages 3 to 11 — unconscious in bedrooms at the back of the apartment.
“Every bit of that apartment had fire damage,” Nigro said. “We’re in the business of saving lives and this instance we were not able to.”
The names of the victims have not been released. Three other people suffered minor injuries when the building was being evacuated.
One resident, Geraldo Morales, told WABC-TV that he had been awakened by a loud noise like an explosion and fled down the fire escape.
Jesse Scott, who lives across the street, watched as the fifth and sixth floors of the building appeared to explode.
“Suddenly, there was a big fireball,” he said. “It just blasted out. Everything came out. All the windows came out. It was just a big ball of fire.”
Others described a harrowing run to safety as residents raced down smoke-filled stairways.
Firefighters declared the blaze under control at 3:19 a.m. By sunrise, the damage was apparent from the street. The upper corner of the building was scarred by black streaks. A group of relatives of some of the victims stood in a circle on the street, praying amid tears.
A woman being held up by other women cried, “Oh my god, it ain’t right.”
The Police Department said the fire did not appear to be suspicious and the Fire Department said it was not clear whether smoke detectors were in the apartment.
More than 1,400 people live in Frederick E. Samuel Houses, a 40-building site operated by the New York City Housing Authority. The buildings are five to seven stories high.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.