As flames and smoke poured from the windows, firefighters rushed inside the apartment and quickly discovered three bodies.
In the second floor hall, firefighters discovered a woman, 74, who was burned and unconscious.
In a third-floor apartment, firefighters discovered a body, one firefighter at the scene said.
But firefighters later discovered a seventh victim in the basement of the three-story, wood-frame building on the city's West Side.
Outside the building, he said, firefighters discovered that Mr. Denega, a retired correction officer, was not breathing and had no pulse.
But Sage Realty says it never had a problem with the 55-year-old building - until the firefighters discovered the Elite models.
Indeed, there are clues to finding addresses, as postmen, package deliverers, firefighters and map designers have discovered.
When they lifted the blanket, the firefighters discovered an Asian woman in her 20's whose hands and feet had been bound with telephone wire.
After the fire was extinguished, firefighters discovered four bodies with three stacked on top of one another.
After the fire was brought under control, firefighters discovered the bodies near a second-floor window.