NEW YORK - A three-alarm fire ravaged a residential apartment building in Elmhurst, Queens Saturday morning. The FDNY said three people were discovered in the building dead.

“We had a very advanced fire on arrival, we had fire on all three floors, first floor, second floor, third floor,” said Chief of Fire Operations Thomas Richardson.

The fire near 91st Street and 48th Avenue was first reported at 5:37 in the morning. Within two minutes, the FDNY was on scene, says Richardson. About 33 units with roughly 140 firefighters contained the blaze, which did not spread to neighboring buildings.

The FDNY says two people were taken to Elmhurst Hospital with injuries. Two firefighters were also injured.

Neighbor Gustavo Escuviro lives two buildings away from the building that burned, but he knows it well. He lived there just last year.

“I feel I’m lucky. Thanking God I’m still alive because one imagination - if I was still sleeping in this house, I was dead,” said Escuviro.

Survivors who say they live in the building and escaped the blaze stood outside watching the firefighters extinguish the flames.

One man, who didn’t want to share his name, said he narrowly escaped from the second floor wearing only the clothes on his back and flip flops. A neighbor gave him shoes and a coat.

“I’m thinking about the other guys, I’m not thinking of my money or my wallet , I’m thinking of the other guys. They all said ‘help, help!’ And I cannot help them,” he said.

Another man who didn’t share his name but said he lived on the first floor also said he heard screams for help.

“[I] saw the flames coming from the basement but the barrier from the basement door kept it confined, when I was calling 911, I heard screaming ‘Help, help!,’ but they were stuck on the second floor. You should have seen the black smoke it was very intense,” he said.

Two people who live in the building were initially unaccounted for. The FDNY says they have been located, and were not in the house at the time of the fire.

The Fire Marshall’s investigation into the cause remains ongoing. In the early afternoon, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was on scene.