One person was killed and another injured in a Schenectady house fire early Wednesday morning.

Firefighters responded to 1331 Lower Broadway around 5:15 a.m. They received a report that people possibly were inside the building and unable to get out.

Firefighters got to the building and saw flames coming from the roof.

Crews entered both he first and second floors of the structure to rescue the residents. They found a man in a bedroom on the second floor.

Schenectady Fire Department Chief Donald Mareno said that it is very difficult to do a rescue on the second floor of a building when the fire is still burning from the first floor.

“So, if the fire is on the first floor, you don’t operate on the second floor until you control the fire on the first floor. This morning, we have reports that there was someone on the second floor. Our crews went above the fire, which is extremely dangerous to try to save someone,” Chief Mareno said.

The man rescued was taken to Ellis Hospital, where he was stabilized and later taken by helicopter to Westchester Medical Center.

When they were cleaning up the scene, firefighters found a person in the first-floor apartment who was deceased.

The names of both people are being withheld pending notification of their families.

The smoke was so thick during the fire that it even got inside some of the neighbor’s homes.

“We just seen a lot of smoke and then my friend started to choke, and I was like, what the hell is she coughing on. And then we looked outside and then there was a lot, a lot of smoke,” one neighbor said.

No firefighters were injured.

The cause is under investigation. Schenectady’s Office of Code Enforcement will take over the investigation, according to the chief.

Firefighters battle a fire on Lower Broadway in Schenectady on Wednesday morning. (WNYT)