Officials: Woman in wheelchair and elderly husband killed in major fire in New York City

An elderly couple died in a fire in their Upper Manhattan apartment building early Tuesday morning, authorities said.

A 77-year-old woman confined to a wheelchair and her 73-year-old husband were found in their apartment on the top floor of the six-story building when firefighters rushed to a Level 3 fire on West 178th Street near Broadway in Washington Heights around 1:45 a.m., officials and reports said.

“One (victim) was found in the front room,” Malcolm Moore, FDNY’s deputy chief of special operations, told reporters. “After units were able to control the heavy fire in a large portion of the apartment, we located the second victim, believed to be a male, in the back room.”

Both elderly victims were taken to Harlem Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Her identity could not be immediately determined by the police as the family has yet to be notified.

Ines Cabrera, a family friend, told WABC that the woman who died in the inferno was disabled, used a wheelchair and was probably unable to escape.

Six other people were injured in the fire, including three firefighters and three civilians, all of whom suffered minor injuries, officials said.

The fire spread to the fifth floor, and even small flames were visible on the window frames on the third floor, Moore said.

The New York Fire Department said 33 units were called to the scene of the accident, including 140 firefighters and rescue personnel.

The fire was brought under control about two hours after it broke out, and its cause was investigated later in the day.