An elderly Harlem landlord was killed in a fire in his apartment last night, fire officials said.
It took firefighters almost an hour to find the body of the 84-year-old man, whose name was withheld, inside the debris-filled first-floor apartment at 512 W. 142nd St.
The fire broke out shortly before 8 p.m. and spread to the second and third floors of the four-story walk-up, leaving nine people homeless, an FDNY official said.
“We heard one of our neighbors yelling, ‘Fire! Fire!’ and then we ran out into very thick smoke,” said Amelia Niumeitolu, who lives in the building.
She said she and other neighbors tried to check on the landlord, but were unable to get close to the apartment.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, fire officials said.
Niumeitolu described the victim as “a beautiful man” who was “very generous and kind.”
“When we couldn’t pay the rent he’d say it was OK,” she said. “He was like a grandfather.”
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. Four firefighters suffered minor injuries.