A two-alarm blaze tore through a Manhanttan diner Wednesday, injuring two firefighters.
FDNY officials said 106 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to a 911 call around 11:11 a.m. at the Hollywood Diner, on the corner of Sixth Ave. and W. 16th St. in Chelsea.
Billy Macagnone, owner of a Body Evolutions studio upstairs from the diner, said he was just finishing up a workout class with one of his trainers when the fire erupted.
“The owner of the restaurant came running up (saying) ‘Does anyone smell smoke? Does anyone smells smoke?’ and he’s looking frantic,” Macagnone told the Daily News. “I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t smell anything.’ He went back downstairs and like two minutes later, all of a sudden, smoke started coming out of the wall, and it was from where the grease trap is.”
Macagnone praised firefighters for responding so quickly to the four-story building.
“As soon as you smell all that smoke coming in quick, you just think, that’s it. This is there’s no other thing than your life, just get out and I grabbed whatever I could have,” Macagnone said.
The blaze was declared a two-alarm fire around 11:30 a.m., and was extinguished more than an hour afterward, the FDNY reported. The two injured firefighters were treated at Lenox Health Greenwich Village.
FDNY officials said it was still investigating the cause of the blaze, which may have started in the diner’s ductwork.
