INWOOD, Manhattan (WABC) --
Authorities say the fire that destroyed stores and injured multiple firefighters in Upper Manhattan Sunday was accidental.
According to FDNY Fire Marshals, the 4-alarm fire on Nagle Avenue in Inwood was caused by sparks from an operating saw blade.
The fire broke out at about 10 a.m., and spread through seven stores along the street.
FDNY Chief James Hodgens says the department used special two-tower ladders to put the fire out. About 140 firefighters were called to the scene.
Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The stores were unoccupied at the time of the fire.
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A four-alarm blaze destroyed a row of at least six shops in upper Manhattan and left six firefighters with minor injuries Sunday morning, officials said.
The fire started in a dry- cleaning business on Nagle Avenue near Thayer Street in Inwood at around 10 a.m. and quickly spread to neighboring stores, they said.
It took around 100 firefighters to beat back the flames, which were brought under control at around 2 p.m.
Home attendant Joany Perez, 53, lives across the street and said she saw the fire start at the dry cleaner and spread to other shops.
“I thought, ‘Oh, my God!’ It’s terrible, my daughter cried, cried, cried, she was scared,” Perez said. “My apartment has so much smoke in it now.”
“Ten people ran out of the barber shop — they were working,” she said.
Thick, black smoke filled the air during the blaze, which burned the dry cleaner, a barber shop, a Chinese restaurant, a liquor store, a bodega and a bar.
“They are all gone,” Perez said. “I heard an explosion in the Chinese restaurant. It was closed.”
The firefighters were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.