Reuters
Flames erupted inside Trump Tower early Saturday evening, killing one resident inside the luxury Manhattan building, authorities said.
The four-alarm fire blaze broke out on the 50th floor of the high-rise on Fifth Avenue near 56th Street just before 6 p.m., according to the FDNY.
President Trump tweeted at 6:42 p.m. that the fire was under control — and use the occasion to boast about the building’s construction.
The FDNY said the blaze actually was brought under control at 7:40 p.m.
“Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building),” Trump wrote. “Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!”
First responders performed CPR on a 67-year-old man who lives in the building before he was rushed to Mount Sinai West, where he died.
Firefighters and Secret Service agents checked out Trump’s penthouse pad and didn’t immediately find any damage, officials said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
“This is a very difficult fire as you can imagine,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
“The apartment is quite large — we are 50 stories up — the rest of the building had a considerable amount of smoke.”
Lalitha Mason, a 36th-floor resident, said the blaze was frightening.
“We’re terrified. It was a very horrible experience – there was no evacuation system in place – we were at a loss of what to do. I almost fainted – I thought we would die,” she said.
“This looks similar to when 9/11 took place. My husband is disabled and we were helpless. All we could do is put wet towels under the door and pray.”
An employee from the Gucci store on the ground floor said he could smell smoke.
“We smelled smoke coming through the vents, our clients and personnel were evacuated,” he said.
“We were assured they had it under control and it was precautionary. Definitely a noticeable smell [of smoke]coming through the vents.”
Four firefighters were injured but were expected to recover, Nigro said.
This story originally appeared at Nypost.com