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Six Hurt In Three-Alarm Fire At East Harlem Apartment Building

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) --Six people, including three firefighters, have been injured in a three-alarm fire at an East Harlem apartment building, CBS 2 reported.

Flames broke out in a top floor apartment of a six-story building on East 116th Street around 8:50 a.m. Thursday.

Investigators said the apartment was jammed, messy and cluttered, making it difficult to battle the blaze.

"We have a firefighter's expression, a 'Collyer's Mansion;' if you've ever watched the program 'Hoarders,' that's what it is," Deputy Chief Dan Donohue said. "It takes us an extra long time to search the apartment and during the fire there's a lot of flammable material, that's why when we got there the fire was coming out of a few windows."

No one was inside the apartment at the time of the fire.

It took 130 firefighters about an hour to bring the fire under control, officials said.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

Bernardo Dorado, who owns the bakery on the ground floor of the building, said his shop sustained minor damage.

"Those things are replaceable, life's not," Dorado told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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