By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Four firefighters were injured battling a massive blaze that tore through a vacant Harlem building where jazz icon Billie Holiday reportedly once lived.
Huge flames could be seen blasting through the roof of the five-story building on W. 139th St. near Malcolm X Blvd. beginning 9 p.m. Wednesday, FDNY officials said.
“We had heavy fire on all five floors of this building and through the roof,” FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods said on X, adding that the building “had been vacant for many years.”
More than 180 firefighters and EMS members were called in to put out the blaze, which began eating away at neighboring buildings, Woods said.
The structural stability of the burning building was so bad firefighters were ordered to fall back and “go to an exterior fire attack,” Woods said.
Three tower ladders were called in and pumped gallons upon gallons of water onto the roof, images shared on X showed.
The fire burned for nearly four hours before it was brought under control about 12:45 a.m. Thursday, officials said.
Four firefighters suffered minor injuries fighting the blaze. FDNY fire marshals are working to determine what sparked the fire.
Born in Baltimore, Holiday moved to Harlem with her mother at the age of 12, according to PBS. It was within Harlem’s uptown jazz scene where the singer would get her first major breakthrough in 1933, when writer and producer John Hammond discovered her performing as a substitute for a more established artist at the renowned Pod and Jerry’s Log Cabin on W. 133rd St. near Seventh Ave.
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