Neighbors identified the woman as Catherine Voultepsis, 92, a Greek immigrant who baked cookies for fellow tenants.
"She was a really nice old lady," the building's super Namko Tahirovic, 40, said of the woman who had lived there more than 40 years.
"She was amazing," he added. "She was beautiful."
Tahirovic said the victim lived alone in her third-floor apartment where the fire started.
She was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in cardiac arrest after the 11 p.m. blaze at the W. 21st Street building.
"She came out on the stretcher, she had oxygen," the super said. "They were giving her first aid but she didn't look good."
"It was huge," she said of the flames. "I had never seen an apartment blow out like that."
Pepper ran in the burning building to grab her dog and alert neighbors before calling 911, she said.
Five firefighters and two other civilians were also transported to Bellevue for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. All are listed in stable condition, according to fire officials. Seven tenants were treated and released at the scene.
More than 100 firefighters battled the late-night blaze, knocking it out in about an hour. Fire marshals are still investigating what sparked the deadly blaze.
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