by Michelle Mullen and Alexa Lewis

At 10:03 a.m. Thursday, May 21, the New York Fire Department received a report of a fire at the Skyview apartment complex at 5900 Arlington Ave. in Riverdale. 

Dozens of people, along with their pets and children, stood outside the building as fire personnel rushed inside. 

The fire was reported on the eighth floor of the 23-story high rise residential building.  The fire department said 21 units with 79 fire and EMS personnel were dispatched to fight the wind-driven blaze, which was brought under control at 11:19 a.m. Two civilians were injured, and one was taken to the hospital, according to the fire department. 

Four firefighters suffered non-critical injuries, and three of them were transported to hospitals, the department said. 

Stu and Lori Kolinsky, who live on the 12th floor, said they saw the fire trucks arriving from their window, and received a message from building management instructing everyone above the seventh floor to evacuate. As they moved through the building, they encountered thick, black smoke they said they couldn’t see through. 

“We had to get through the  black, not knowing what was facing us when we opened the door,” Stu Kolinsky said. 

Residents Betty and Jose Figueroa live on the building’s 17th floor. Betty said she was on Zoom when she received the message from building management, which also urged residents to close doors behind them to prevent the spread of the fire. 

When the Figueroas exited their apartment, the thick smoke raised concerns about Jose Figueroa’s preexisting respiratory condition. As a precautionary measure, Betty Figueroa rushed back into the apartment to retrieve two surgical masks. 

“There was a lot of commotion, people were nervous — practically everyone on the phone,” Jose Figueroa said, describing the scene that greeted them once they reached the lobby. 

Bennett Pologe, a resident of the building for 20 years, said he first noticed the smoke by its smell. 

“It smelled sort of oddly sweet,  I thought someone was cooking something a little disgusting.” He said. “And then suddenly, there’s a banging on my door.”

That banging was building staff, telling Pologue he had to leave the building immediately. He had time to grab his backpack with his laptop inside, but said his elderly neighbor left with “just the shirt on her back.”

This is a developing story.