One resident was killed and several others were seriously injured in a large fire that tore through an assisted living facility in Spring Valley, N.Y., early Tuesday morning, officials said.
One firefighter was missing after responding to the blaze, said Chris Kear, the Rockland County fire coordinator. He was rescuing a resident from the third floor of the facility and made an emergency “mayday” call, but other firefighters were unable to reach him before the section of the building that he was in collapsed.
Rescue teams were still searching for him on Tuesday morning, with a small excavator brought in to remove rubble from the collapse.
“We’ve got to start pulling it back, and peeling it layer by layer,” Mr. Kear said. “And hopefully he’ll be recovered.”
The authorities were called to the scene of the fire, the Evergreen Court Home for Adults, just before 1 a.m., officials said. As the flames spread from the three-story building’s first floor to its upper levels, firefighters from 23 departments rushed to the scene.
As of 9 a.m., the fire was not yet fully under control, Mr. Kear said.
Police, fire and emergency medical personnel were able to evacuate dozens of residents from the facility, officials said. About 20 residents were taken to nearby hospitals with injuries related to the blaze. Two firefighters were also injured while fighting the blaze and were expected to recover.
The facility, located in Rockland County about 30 miles north and west of Manhattan, can accommodate up to 200 beds, according to the New York Department of Health. Attempts to reach the facility were not successful.
Officials estimated that there were between 100 and 130 residents living at the facility at the time of the fire, but it was not clear exactly how many of them were present when the fire broke out.
Mr. Kear said that the police and fire agencies were conducting a head count to determine if every resident had been accounted for.
A cause of the fire has not yet been determined, Mr. Kear said. But the blaze, which primarily involved one half of the building, was powerful enough that the second floor of the facility collapsed.
Officials would not speculate on a cause, but said the building’s age may have played a role in the speed at which the fire ripped through it.
“This is a very old building,” Mr. Kear said. “It has been several types of buildings in the past.”
Belaaz, a Jewish media outlet, shared a video on Twitter of the flames shooting through the roof of a structure with dozens of onlookers and firefighters on the scene.
Other video and images of the fire on Twitter showed people escorting residents onto buses as crews worked to put out the flames.