By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A raging Bronx fire left two men dead Wednesday morning and heavily damaged a Buddhist temple next door, FDNY officials said.
It was the second time this week a parked vehicle blocked the hydrant closest to a fatal blaze in the city.
The three-alarm fire broke out about 6 a.m. in a building on Anthony Ave. near E. Burnside Ave. and quickly spread to two buildings, including the temple, FDNY officials said.
Aerial footage of the blaze shows one of the buildings completely consumed in flames. “This was a very dangerous operation for our firefighters,” FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said at the scene.
When firefighters arrived, they found a man believed to be in his 40s dead in the building where the blaze began, officials said. A man believed to be between 60 and 80 was pulled out of the same buildings and rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.
It took more than 130 firefighters and EMS personnel about two hours to bring the massive blaze under control.
FDNY members are currently operating at a 3-alarm fire in the Bronx. The closest hydrant to the fire is blocked by parked cars. pic.twitter.com/JTFtvZQFr4
— FDNY (@FDNY) February 12, 2025
Firefighters had to snake hoses around a red sedan blocking the nearest hydrant, a photo posted on X showed.
“We did unfortunately have a car parked by the closest fire hydrant,” Esposito said. “We’ve seen that a couple of times in the city lately.”
“We all know we should not be parking on fire hydrants,” he added. “Seconds count when fighting a fire and that slows us down.”
FDNY Fire Marshals are working to determine what sparked the fire.
The city’s Department of Buildings was on scene to determine the structural stability of the burned buildings while the Red Cross was rendering aid to displaced residents, Esposito said.
The FDNY’s response to a fatal fire in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Sunday was slowed by a pair of SUVs blocking the two nearest fire hydrants. A Navy veteran up for a work promotion and planning to buy a house with his wife and family died in the blaze, officials said.
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