A devastating five-alarm fire broke out early Friday at a Bronx apartment building, leaving at least seven people injured.

Firefighters rushed to the scene at 2910 Wallace Avenue, a six-story residential building in the East Bronx, shortly after 1:40 a.m. Dramatic footage captured flames pouring from the roof as the blaze consumed the structure.

The FDNY gave the following statement to the media:

“We arrived here a little after 1:45 this morning. We found fire in the ceiling above the top floor, between the ceiling and the underside of the roof that’s called the cockloft. It’s an open area for the entire length and width of the building. This building is about 200 feet wide, about 100 feet deep, and we had fire throughout that cockloft. Heavy fire destroyed the all the apartments on the top floor and burnt through the roof. Initially, we had fire companies inside conducting searches, removing people and attempting to fight the fire. The fire had too much headway. It was extremely dangerous for our firefighters. We removed them from the building, and we’re using tower ladders to extinguish the rest of the building, and we’re continuing with that operation. We had no water problems due to the cold. The wind did play a part in spreading the fire through the cockloft,” said Chief of Department John Esposito.

There are seven minor injuries, five to firefighters and two to civilians. FDNY Fire Marshals are on scene investigating the cause.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)