(AP) - A jury has awarded $183 million to five firefighters or their families in a case stemming from a tenement blaze on a day known as Black Sunday.

Two firefighters were killed in the Jan. 23, 2005, Bronx fire.

Four others were severely injured, including one who died in 2011 as a result of the blaze.

The jury on Monday found the city 80 percent responsible for the deaths and injuries. The building's owners were found liable for 20 percent. In February 2010, a judge overturned negligent homicide and reckless endangerment convictions against the owner and manager of the apartment building, where tenants had constructed a labyrinth of illegal walls.

A separate jury had previously acquitted two tenants of similar charges.

The firefighters' lawyer, Vito Cannavo, had argued that the city failed to equip them with the proper ropes to escape; they jumped to get out of the surging blaze.

The case highlighted the hazards of using temporary walls for illegal apartment conversions.

The tenants had turned their living quarters into a deadly maze so they could make extra cash renting rooms, prosecutors said. The family of one of the firefighters had settled its case before the verdict.

About $140 million of the award is to be paid by the city.

The rest is to be paid by one of the building's former owners, 234 East 178th Street LLC.

The judge has some discretion over the final amount. Darrell Whiteley, an attorney for the former building owners, said his clients were pleased that jurors found most of the liability rested with the city and focused on the issue of the failure to provide the proper ropes.

"Had they had these ropes, every one of the firefighters would have been able to self-evacuate." Whiteley said.

The city, which said the liability is unfairly apportioned, is considering an appeal.

Another firefighter also died on Black Sunday while battling an unrelated house fire in Brooklyn.