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5-Alarm Fire Destroys Harlem Businesses
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 14, 2013
Modified Dec 14, 2013
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 14, 2013
Modified Dec 14, 2013
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Last night at around 7:45 p.m., a huge fire broke out in a Harlem hair salon on West 145th Street and then spread to neighboring buildings. The fire grew to five alarms and it took more than 150 firefighters to battle the blaze.
Photograph by Josh Einiger
According to WABC 7, "The Gospel Spreading Church of God and the James L. Perkins Memorial Chapel were fully engulfed in flames. A dollar store and another church also caught fire as the blaze spread." The body of a woman, set for burial on Monday, was inside a funeral home that burned down as well.
A fire chief said, "It is a large fire, but the one good thing is we were able to contain it to the stores and the church area, so we don't think the fire will be spreading any further and we have it surrounded, and at this point we just have to continue to fight it."
No one was injured. The FDNY is investigating the cause of the fire.
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five-alarm fire
harlem
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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