At least one resident of a Dekalb Avenue building in Norwood had a close call after he said his kitchen exploded for no apparent reason, prompting a substantial response from police, firefighters and paramedics.

According to the FDNY, the incident was reported at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23. In an initial call from an NYPD dispatcher that was rebroadcast over the Citizens App, the dispatcher reported, “52 precinct, unconfirmed 59-explosion, 3521 Dekalb Avenue.” The dispatcher added, “Explosion in the kitchen; cabinets have been blown out.”

Video from the Citizens App showed several fire trucks and an NYPD emergency service unit truck on Dekalb Avenue, a two-way street, blocking vehicles from turning off East Gun Hill Road, as well as traffic coming from the other direction.

Citizen App users were initially provided an incorrect address for the site of the explosion of 3512 Dekalb Avenue, the former site of the Nathan Straus Jewish Center and, most recently, home to the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center North, the Educational Counseling Center, and the MMCC Childhood Development Center.

Early on Jan. 24, Stanley Jones, a resident at 3521 Dekalb Avenue, was standing in the doorway of his building, waiting for investigators when he was asked by the Norwood News about the incident. Jones replied, “I mean, nothing really happened to me. The closet blew up and they don’t know what the cause was.”

Jones added matter-of-factly, “My kitchen exploded,” before adding, “They don’t know what it was.” Pressed if the likely cause was a gas oven, Jones replied, “No, it was just an explosion that originated in the kitchen. They don’t know where it started. I’m waiting on the building inspector now.”

Jones said that at the time of the explosion, he had not been cooking. “I was in the bedroom watching a movie,” he said. He acknowledged being lucky and was thankful nobody was injured as a result of the incident. Asked if his landlord would make the needed repairs, Jones said, “Yeah, I hope he does.”

On Monday, Jan. 25, in response to an inquiry from the Norwood News citing what looked to be a substantial emergency response by the NYPD and emergency units to the incident, NYPD spokesperson, Detective Denise Moroney, said, “There are no complaint reports on file with the information you provided.”

On the same day, an unidentified official from the FDNY press office offered a brief report recap of the incident, which was described as a fire rather than an explosion, saying, “21:30 hours, 3521 Dekalb Ave (Bx), for reports of a stove fire. Building is a 6-story multiple dwelling. Seven units responded. DOB notified. Incident placed under control at 23:09. No injuries reported.”

Asked if the cause of the incident was definitely a stove fire, given the resident had told the Norwood News he had not been cooking at the time of the alleged explosion, the FDNY press officer responded, “I can confirm it was a stove fire. You do not need to be cooking for your stove /oven to catch fire.” The officer added, “No reports of an investigation at this time.”

On Tuesday, Jan. 26, Andrew Rudansky, a press secretary at the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) provided a more detailed report of the incident, saying, “DOB inspectors were called to the scene to conduct a structure stability inspection.” He continued, “Our inspectors confirmed that a small explosion had occurred in the cockloft of a 6-story building, causing cracks to form on the walls and ceilings of two separate apartments on the top floor.”

The investigation determined that the explosion caused no serious damage to the building. However, a partial vacate order was issued “out of an abundance of caution” to one of the two damaged apartments, due to the cracks in the ceiling. The report added that inspectors were on the scene on Jan. 23 and 24 and ordered the building’s owner to hire a master plumber to confirm the gas lines in the building were safe.

One resident, who was ordered to vacate the apartment, was allocated a second apartment by the landlord to stay in temporarily.

On Monday, Jan. 25, Norwood News noticed a letter from Con Edison had been posted in the building’s elevator dated Dec. 29, informing residents that contractors would be upgrading the building to “smart gas meters” that day. It’s not yet known if the switching of the gas meters may have caused or been a factor in the explosion.

According to DOB records, the building has 28 violations on file, with three violations categorized as “open” and pertaining to the building’s elevator. In 2019, the owner of the building, listed as 3521 Dekalb Avenue Associates, paid $1,270.78 of a $1,500 civil penalty leveled against the group for “failure to maintain [the] elevator.”

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, several attempts to reach the landlord of the building proved unsuccessful. When contacted by telephone also on Tuesday, Feb. 2, Chris Perez, the building’s managing agent, said the cause of the explosion had not yet been determined.

Meanwhile, Bob McGee, a Con Edison spokesman said on Feb. 2 that he was working to determine if Jones’ oven was gas or electric. If it was gas, he said it would have had to have had a converter installed as part of the switch to the smart gas meter, on or around Dec. 29. McGee committed to following up and providing that information to the Norwood News, once available.

According to one real estate website, studio apartments in the 88-unit building at the location start at $1,350 per month.