When firefighters arrived just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, flames were already coming out of every single window in the home, forcing three people to jump to safety from the second floor. But two family members never made it out.
Robin Gaige will always remember the 5-year-old who used to yell from her bedroom window to ask to play at her neighbor's house.
"I'm going to miss that stuff," Gaige said.
And Carmen Torres can't forget the way she said hello to one of her best friends.
"He would go, 'Carmen, is that you? I see you!' And I would do the same thing back to him," Torres said.
Tuesday morning, neighbors heard the mother in the home on Sixth Avenue screaming for help. Christopher Gaige ran across the street.
Fire officials say two people perished in the fire, and friends told us they were 5-year-old Neyteria and her uncle, 26-year-old Tyreese. The other five family members inside the home escaped; three are recovering at Ellis Hospital after jumping out windows on the second floor.
Firefighters continue to investigate the cause of the fire, but they don't believe it's suspicious. Autopsies are scheduled for Wednesday at Albany Medical Center.