Upper Manhattan 4-alarm blaze sends Dominicans scurrying

New York.- A blaze that began in a 99-cent store on the first floor of a building on the corner of 174th St. and Saint Nicholas Av. in Upper Manhattan affected more than 100 Dominicans living there.

The fire also partially affected a supermarket and a butcher shop also located on the first floor.

As of Monday night the Fire Dept. hadn’t determined its origin, but wasn’t deemed suspicious.

A firefighter and several residents suffered smoke inhalation and prompted the evacuation of all the apartments on the 6-story building, number 1278, located on the street also named Juan Pablo Duarte Boulevard.

The 4-alarm blaze began shortly after 10am, as 40 units, 160 firefighters and dozens of police officers, several ambulances and modern search and rescue equipment arrived on the scene.

Firefighters were forced to break all front windows on Saint Nicholas Av., to let the smoke escape and avoid monoxide poisoning.