By Rocco Parascandola, Nicholas Williams, Kerry Burke, Colin Mixson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Bronx firefighters rescued a small child from a massive five-alarm inferno Wednesday sparked by an explosion that took one life and left 14 others with serious injuries, FDNY officials said.
Investigators suspect that a gas explosion sparked the fatal blaze, FDNY sources said.
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Firefighters already facing a “hot and humid day” were met by heavy flames at the five-story apartment building in Norwood on E. 209th St. near Parkside Place, where the blast occurred about 12:30 p.m., according to FDNY Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore and Chief of Department Joe Esposito.
“There was some sort of explosion. It blew out window frames, it blew some of them across the street, and when our members got up to the second floor, some of the apartment doors had been blown off their hinges,” Esposito said, adding that firefighters got to the scene within three minutes. “This makes it very difficult to confine the fire while we’re also conducting searches.”
“It was a very unusual and an extremely dangerous position for our firefighters,” Esposito said.
Surveillance footage obtained by the Daily News shows the explosion erupting on the building’s second floor, sending glass and other debris rocketing across the street.
In another clip, a man can be seen walking on the opposite side of the street when he ducks, narrowly missing a flying window frame as debris lands all around him. A parked car visible in the frame takes the brunt of the shrapnel, which shatters its rear windshield, the video shows.
Rah Johnson was walking with his wife when they heard a deafening boom and were struck by a torrent of shattered glass.
“It looked like a tornado instantly hit it. The way it blew like that it seemed like a gas explosion,” said Johnson. “The glass scraped (my wife’s) ear, and she was bleeding.”
Dramatic photos taken from the scene show a firefighter on a tower ladder plucking a panicked child from a fire escape. Fourteen people were injured — two critically — in the blaze and taken to local hospitals. Six firefighters were among the injured, officials said.
Multiple people had to be rescued as the fire spread to three floors, causing the building’s third floor to collapse, according to Bonsignore.
A 40-year-old man was found dead on the building’s third floor, which had collapsed as the fire raged, according to firefighters at the scene. The man’s name was not immediately released Wednesday night.
The building’s super and a next-door neighbor said the victim lived above the second-floor unit where the explosion occurred.
Though early reports indicated a lithium-ion battery may have been responsible, investigators now suspect a gas leak triggered the explosion, FDNY sources said.
Tenants told officials that they had smelled gas in the building before the fire.
“I smelled gas. I started checking the house to see if anything was leaking,” tenant Daniel Mercado, 49, told the Daily News. “I checked the hallway. I sat down and an hour or two later it exploded. (The) wall fell, (the) ceiling fell,” said Mercado.
Mercado said he found the woman who lives in the building where the blast occurred in the stairwell. Her poodle was dead, he said.
“We came outside with her and she was able to walk on her own but she couldn’t talk, she was in shock,” said Mercado. “The fire was all over the closet and kitchen.”
As the fire raged, one tenant said he was anxiously awaiting news of his 12 dogs, who were trapped in his basement apartment as firefighters battled the blaze.
“They gotta suffer through all this s— and water is coming down,” said the man, who gave his name as Chris. “I just want to know they’re okay. I’ve been here for the past three hours begging (for information).”
“I rescue dogs,” he added. “I don’t want them to die in a shelter.”
It was not immediately clear Wednesday night if any of the dogs survived the fire.
The deceased tenant was found in a collapsed section of the building. His body was pulled out and temporarily stored in an alley across the street until the fire was put out and the city’s Medical Examiner’s office could claim his remains Wednesday night.
The blaze was declared under control at 3:30 p.m. but small fires reignited throughout the rest of the afternoon, FDNY officials said.
The fire was finally out by Wednesday evening.
The Red Cross set up a registration center at P.S. 56, about two blocks away from the fire, where 45 people from 18 households, including seven children, sought relief, including temporary lodgings and emergency financial aid, according to a spokeswoman.
The apartment building had 27 apartments, Bonsignore said.
The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation, Bonsignore said. As of late Wednesday, fire marshals hadn’t been able to get into the destroyed building to find the flashpoint.
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