by Barry Paddock and Jonathan Lemire
Dozens of people were left homeless after a three-alarm fire tore through a Bronx apartment building early Thursday, officials said.
Ten-foot flames and plumes of smoke poured from the windows of the six-story Mott Haven building, sending scores of sleeping residents racing to the street for safety.
"This is all I got out of my apartment," said Tracy Solomon, 47, waving a black cell phone. "I don't know what to do."
It took firefighters more than two hours to put out the blaze, which ignited in the E. 138th St. building just after 4 a.m.
Eighteen firefighters suffered minor injuries, officials said.
Residents were not allowed back in the badly damaged building, so the Red Cross provided temporary housing for families with nowhere to go.
Investigators believe the blaze started after gas built up in a wall behind the stove in a third-floor apartment, FDNY officials said.
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