By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Close to 200 people were displaced and seven people, including five firefighters, were injured early Friday as a massive five-alarm blaze buffeted by icy winds tore through the top of a six-story Bronx apartment building Friday, officials said.
The fire broke out on the top floor of the Mayfair Apartments on Wallace Ave. near Arnow Ave. in the Allerton section of the Bronx at about 1:40 a.m. and quickly spread to the cockloft between the ceilings of the top floor apartments and the roof.
“It was a heavy fire that destroyed apartments on the top floor and burned through the roof,” FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said during a press conference at the scene with Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker and Mayor Adams Friday morning. “The fire had too much headway and it was extremely dangerous.”
Images shared by the FDNY showed bright pockets of orange flames breaking through the roof of the block-long building.
As the blaze raged on, firefighters dousing the flames from inside were pulled out, fearing a structural collapse.
“This (fire) was very difficult for firefighters to fight,” Tucker said. “Thank God there were no serious injuries. That’s a miracle. This was a large fire that was wind-driven.”
Firefighters fought the blaze through the night and into the morning. During the press conference, several parts of the roof were still smoldering, Mayor Adams said.
FDNY Fire Marshals were trying to determine what sparked the fire Friday.
Six of the seven injured were taken to area hospitals. One resident was treated at scene but declined an offer to be taken to the hospital for further care, the FDNY said.
Displaced residents were put on MTA buses to keep warm and then brought to nearby Public School 76, where they registered with the Red Cross.
“In partnership with @nycemergencymgt and @RedCross, we have made space available in one of our Bronx schools for temporary shelter,’” NYC Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who came up through the public school system in the Bronx, posted on X.
City Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol said about 66 families, or 188 people, are seeking help through the Red Cross.
More than 250 firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics responded to the fire, FDNY officials said.
The city Department of Buildings has a stop work order on the apartment building following a 2019 violation in which debris was found falling from the facade, according to city records.
The DOB has received 61 complaints about the building, mostly about the condition of the elevator, which residents said continually breaks down.
The most recent complaints were filed last February, city records show.
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