3 hospitalized in Yonkers apartment building fire
YONKERS, N.Y. -- Three people were recovering in the hospital after a fire ripped through a Yonkers apartment building on Saturday night.
Some tenants are now displaced, just a week before Christmas.
Crews spent Sunday boarding the stairs to several apartments affected by the blaze on Caryl Avenue in Yonkers.
The superintendent, who told CBS New York his name is David, had a busy day cleaning.
"Damage is only to 4 apartments," he said. "Two apartments are completely gone."
Some tenants, including Pamela Kennerly, finally made it back home Sunday afternoon after being evacuated and spending an exhausting night away from home.
"It was hard. I was up all night," Kennerly said.
Fire officials said the blaze started in a third-floor apartment.
"It got out and started going up one of the pipes to the fourth floor," Yonkers Fire Department Deputy Chief Joseph Citrone said.
Neighbors said they woke up to the sounds of banging and screaming as they tried to navigate the smoke-filled hallways.
"I ran to a total blackout," neighbor Shane Leak said. "It was total fear, total death, total darkness."
"There was a man on the third floor that jumped out the window. He was bleeding everywhere, literally everywhere," neighbor Saniya Floyd said.
Fire officials said three people were sent to the hospital for burns, lacerations, and smoke inhalation. Just a week before Christmas, so many were thankful to be alive.
"It's rough. It's tough, because it's the holidays, you know? You don't want to see anybody go through this," tenant Nes Rivera said.
Fire officials said one of the victims in the hospital is a woman who is in critical condition.
The cause of this fire is under investigation.