Crime & Safety
More Information Revealed About Fatal Fire On Upper West Side
Police released more information Thursday morning about a deadly fire that broke out Wednesday night in a NYCHA building on the UWS.
UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Sider lost their life Wednesday night after a deadly fire broke out within a NYCHA building in the neighborhood.
The deadly fire ignited around 7 p.m. on the third floor of a 20-story building at 845 Columbus Avenue, between 101st and 102nd Streets, according to the FDNY.
On Thursday morning, police confirmed that it was a building within the Frederick Douglass Houses, one of the largest NYCHA complexes on the Upper West Side.
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Additionally, NYPD revealed that the person who died was a 72-year-old woman who firefighters discovered within the burning apartment unconscious and unresponsive.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
Find out what's happening in Upper West Sidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The woman's name has not been released.
It appears that the flames were contained to just the 72-year-old's apartment.
"My house was full of smoke, everything," said a woman who lives above the third-floor apartment to the Daily News. "In the beginning I was smelling something burning but I wasn't sure what was that."
The NYC Fire Marshal is determining the cause of the fire.
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