Here's a 6 a.m.-look at the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street following the three-alarm fire that started here yesterday afternoon shortly before 4...
A lone police car is on the scene...
FDNY officials said that the fire started on "a lower floor" of the five-story building and spread up to the top floor before it was extinguished by about 140 firefighters, according to published reports. The cause is under investigation. Five firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
Here's more via the Post:
The owner of Cafe Mocha, the ground-floor restaurant, said he smelled the fire before the building went up in flames.
"I was in the restaurant and we smelled the fire coming from the bathroom. We smelled it, I think, coming through the shaft," owner Ghasan Ballan said.
"I feel bad for the residents, they have no home," he added.
No other word at the moment on the status of the two retail tenants here — Cafe Mocha and Via Della Pace ... or the displaced tenants of the building with 15 units.
One report said that the building suffered extensive interior damage.
Updated 8:30 a.m.
One tenant of the building left this comment on our Facebook post:
I am a tenant of the building. Live on the top floor. Thank you all for your concern. All tenants and animals (including my 2 cats) are safe and sound. Thankfully my family is blessed with much love and support from family, friends and neighbors. According to my super, building has much smoke and water damage. Will take about a year to restore the building.