Firefighter Seriously Injured After Falling Out Window in NYC

A firefighter is recovering from a serious injury after plummeting 40 feet from a window while battling an intense five-alarm fire in Manhattan.

The dramatic fall unfolded at a Hamilton Heights apartment building on Friday afternoon, as the firefighter was maneuvering down a narrow staircase inside the six-story complex, the FDNY reported.

The ordeal began when flames erupted in a second-floor unit on West 145th Street around 2:40 p.m., quickly spreading up to the building’s sixth floor. Winds blowing through the building fanned the flames and fueled their rapid ascent, FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods explained. “These winds were a force multiplier, pushing flames up and out of the front windows,” Woods noted, as the fire tore through floor after floor.

More than 200 firefighters arrived to combat the blaze, but the scene took a shocking turn as one firefighter, working to pull back a hose line, stumbled and fell out of a fifth-floor window. The firefighter tumbled down a shaft behind the building, plunging an estimated 40 feet to the ground below, officials and sources confirmed.

“He received immediate medical care at the bottom of the shaft from the FDNY physicians on the scene and trauma paramedics,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said during a press conference. “Our rescue medics, rescue firefighters, got to him very quickly.”

The firefighter, whose name has not been released, is listed in serious but stable condition at Harlem Hospital. “We were blessed today because we had the fire department’s physician on scene, as well as the elite rescue medics,” FDNY Chief of EMS Michael Fields remarked, crediting the quick action of on-site medics with stabilizing the injured firefighter.

Though this firefighter bore the brunt of the injuries, the massive blaze also left its mark on others. Five civilians and three additional firefighters sustained minor injuries, according to Chief Fields.

The fire itself wreaked havoc on the residential building, impacting roughly ten apartments and displacing as many as 40 residents, per the FDNY. As of Friday evening, the FDNY continues investigating the cause of the fire.

Heavy wind contributed to the blaze moving up the apartment building and spreading from the second all the way up to the sixth floor. CBS News