Longtime Norwood resident Gloria Ford, 79, died on Sunday afternoon after a fire engulfed her third story apartment on Decatur Avenue.
Firefighters were called to 3228 Decatur Avenue, near East 207th Street, after the fire broke out at 2 p.m., on Sunday, Aug. 23. The blaze was under control in under an hour, but it was too late to save Ford.
“They brought her out and she was wrapped up, but you could see she was burned,” said a neighbor who declined to give their name.
Outside the building, Acting Deputy Chief Richard Blatus told members of the media that Ford was alive when she was pulled from the building and taken to nearby Montefiore Medical Center. But there she was pronounced dead. Fortunately, Blatus said, “The fire was pretty much contained to the one apartment, with minor extension to the apartment above.”
The news was an unbearable blow to the woman’s unidentified son, who at one point threw something at a photographer.
A source at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said it was ruled an accident and the cause of death is smoke inhalation and thermal injuries or burns from the heat.”
“She was a nice lady, she was very funny,” said Stephanie Felicies, a neighbor of Ford’s who works for an ambulance company and often transported Ford to Beth Abraham Hospital. “She was a special lady.”
Ford is the second resident of the building to die tragically in the last six months. Michael Lorge, 42, a lifelong resident of the first floor, was shot dead outside his building on Feb. 14, as he got behind the wheel of his car to go to work. Police have still not charged anyone in his death.
Repeated attempts to reach the building’s landlord Ndue “Tony” Gelaj were unsuccessful.