Fire officials are investigating the scene of a fire that sent flames soaring Wednesday night in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and left 14 people with minor injuries.

A deli and salon on the street level of a building at Third Avenue and 68th Street burned side by side, and flames damaged 15 apartments in the three floors above.

The four-alarm fire's heaviest flames consumed the building's roof, according to fire officials.

It took three hours for 150 firemen to control the fire, and 12 firefighters and two civilians received minor injuries.

"The heat and humidity are killing our guys," said FDNY Chief James Leonard. "Secondly, the fire was in all those void spaces. It ran up the pipe recesses in two bathroom lines, it got into all the walls and into the ceiling and required extensive overhaul by our units.... A very tough job on a hot night and our guys did a great job."

Officials say the residents did not immediately call the fire department after smelling smoke, and that the situation soon became worse.

"We have original reports from people who smelled smoke approximately 20 minutes before they called us," said Leonard. "It's important that people when they do smell smoke call us right away, because when we got here the fire had a good head start on us into the void spaces."

More than a dozen families evacuated in a panic, and several of them were given temporary housing by the Red Cross.

"I heard my aunt yelling, 'Fire, fire, fire!' So I jumped out of bed," said one displaced resident.

The damaged salon was barely a year old, and the owner was told she might not be able to reopen her business.

"It was my first business. I can say it's my baby," said Yelena Kalendareva, the salon's owner. "So I really hope that they will be able to fix it and they will let me in, you know, to operate."

City fire officials were trying to determine the cause of the blaze today.

Kalendareva and Song Heo, the deli's owner, said that Wednesday's heavy rains could have caused flooding in the deli, which in turn caused short circuiting and the fire.