Five firefighters were hurt, at least one of them seriously, as they battled a fire at an Astoria warehouse on Wednesday, authorities say.
A civilian was also injured in the blaze, which broke out at the warehouse that stores air conditioners on 31st Street, near 34th and 35th avenues, around 10:15 a.m., officials said. Each of the victims is expected to survive.
Exclusive cellphone video showed firefighters battling flames and getting the fire under control when a stack of air conditioners suddenly came crashing down, falling over a firefighter's legs. Other firefighters were seen scrambling to pull the injured firefighter from under all that weight
Details on the other injuries weren't known, but officials said none was considered life-threatening.
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More than 100 firefighters responded to the inferno that was right under the N train tracks. Witnesses said they tried to help the warehouse employees put out the fire, but were quickly overwhelmed by the amount of stock that was in the warehouse, owned by a company called Lion Enterprises.
The flames were under control within two hours, but efforts were still underway to douse hotspots into the early afternoon.
It was not clear how many air conditioner unites were destroyed in the fire, the cause of which is under investigation.
