Firefighters remained on the scene 24 hours afterward to make sure the blaze would not reignite.
“It was belching smoke. Even if you walked to the other side of the street you couldn’t avoid it,” said Marta, who was walking her dog in the neighborhood.
Marta said she is a Citibank customer.
“Now we’ll have to go down to 96th Street, which is a good fifteen blocks,” she said.
Three firefighters and four other people suffered minor injuries. The two-story bank was not the only business impacted by the blaze.
“Right next door is a Samad Deli, which is a beloved Lebanese deli, and above it is a restaurant called The Heights that, again, has been here for a very long time,” Marta said.
During the blaze, three firefighters were transported to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center for treatment for minor injuries. Three civilians were treated for smoke inhalation on the scene, and a fourth civilian was taken to St. Luke’s for smoke inhalation, WCBS 880 reported.
Nearly 200 firefighters from 40 units responded to the fire.
The cause of the fire was under investigation Sunday.
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