NEW YORK, NY – A fire broke out early Monday morning in the building that is home to Exodus Transitional Community, a community advocacy group based in East Harlem.
The fire was reported at around 12:34 am. Firefighters cleared the building upon their arrival and then began battling the fire, which consumed the three-story building.
FDNY Chief John Esposito reported the building’s roof had collapsed during the fire.
“Units arrived on the scene, found smoke in the building, called additional units to the scene, and eventually discovered fire on three floors of the building,” Esposito said. “We eventually had a fire on all three floors and through the roof.”
Esposito said the damage caused by the fire led firefighters to battle the fire from the exterior as interior entry would have put firefighters at risk.
“It’s an exterior operation with fire throughout the building. We’ve had a partial collapse of the roof into the top floor. We have hose lines on the roofs of the surrounding buildings and still trying to access the fire and put the fire out,” he added. “It’s an older building which starts to affect the structural stability of the building and makes it dangerous. The stairway burnt out so it makes it very dangerous for our members inside. We decided to pull everybody out of the building and then conduct exterior operations.”
The fire is still under investigation. There are four firefighters and one resident with minor injuries.