A 57-year-old man has died following a residential fire impacting two buildings in the Fordham Manor section of The Bronx, FDNY officials said.

 

An FDNY spokesperson later said the department received a call at 9.23 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20, for a report of a fire at a residential building located at 2677 Bainbridge Avenue between 196th Street and 194th Street.

The spokesperson said that upon arrival, firefighters discovered two houses on fire and immediately raised the incident to a 2-alarm emergency.

 

“At 21.40 hrs, the fire escalated to a 3rd alarm, ultimately dispatching 33 units with 138 personnel,” the FDNY spokesperson told Norwood News. 

 

According to fire officials, one civilian was found deceased on their arrival. No further details were provided regarding the age or gender of the person.

Fire department officials said three firefighters were transported to area hospitals with minor injuries, following the blaze. They said the fire was brought under control at 11.46 p.m. and fire marshals are investigating the cause.

 

Several EMS personnel with waiting stretchers were seen on Bainbridge Avenue, as fire fighters battled the blaze in front of a large crowd of local residents who had gathered on the opposite side of the street, many filming the incident as it unfolded.

Fire and other emergency vehicles lined the block and several other surrounding streets in the immediate vicinity of the fire. News crew vehicles were also seen parked on nearby streets as two helicopters circled the area overhead.

 

On Tuesday night, Nov. 21, police provided an update on the victim, and confirming that FDNY personnel had responded and extinguished the fire. “A 57-year-old male was discovered inside the attic of the location and was pronounced deceased by EMS on scene,” a police spokesperson said. “The FDNY Fire Marshal will determine the cause of the fire. The investigation remains ongoing at this time. The identity of the deceased is being withheld pending family notification.”

 

We spoke to Lessa Fernandez, who was one of the residents standing on the street opposite the scene of the fire, and asked her if she could tell us what she had seen.

Speaking in Spanish, she said, “Well, we were relaxing at home when we heard all the fire trucks arriving from all the different streets and that made us alarmed because you know then that means something is happening.”

 

She continued, “And well, the neighbors there suffered this enormous accident across two houses, and thanks be to God, there were no injuries,” she said. We asked if she was sure about that. [At that point, we did not have the official fire report from FDNY.] She said, “Yes, the firefighters said there was nobody in the house. So, it went off ok, nothing more than material damage but this can be recouped.”

We asked if she knew the neighbors who were affected by the fire. “No,” she said. “But, it’s an area where we all know each other [to see] and we’re, all of us, always walking around here.”

 

She added that when winter starts, there are always problems in the houses with central heating or the electricity. Given her comments, we asked if she knew what the cause of the fire was, she said “No, not exactly. We just know something was burning and when we all came outside, we saw the fire.”

We also spoke to Demarest Flowers, 41, about the fire. He said, “I was going to to Dollar Tree with my niece, Jayell, and it was just crazy… all of it…the flames.. it was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that. I hope nobody got hurt.”

 

Flowers was walking up Briggs Avenue, the street behind where the fire broke out, on Bainbridge, when we met him. Asked if the back of his house faced the burning building on the Bainbridge side, he said he thought the fire was a bit further up the street from it. He explained that his mother lived in the house on Briggs Avenue, which was where he was going. “I’m on this side, so hopefully everyone got out safe,” he said.

Asked if the building had incurred any damage, he said, “We about to find out. My mother, elderly lady, she was like, ‘Hurry up and come home!’ So, we just came over here real quick.”

 

Flowers said where his mother lived was also a daycare center which she ran. “We wanna know.. We got to make sure everything is good for the children,” he said. Asked if the daycare was shut in the evenings, he said, “Well, we’ll find out. I hope it isn’t [open] ’cause I would have been over here just spittin’ on the fire trying to get it out!”

We also spoke to a third man on Bainbridge Avenue who declined to be identified. Asked if he knew those impacted by the fire, speaking in Spanish, he said, “All of them; they’re my family.”

 

After offering our sympathies on the tragedy, the man later explained he used to live in one of the buildings on the side of the street where the fire broke out but not in house where it started (a pink colored house) but rather adjacent to it. He said he now lives in another building on another block.

“There, lives the family of my wife,” he said of one of the houses affected by the fire. “Asked if everyone was ok and if they all got out, he said, “Yes, yes, they did….. though not [those] from the house where the fire started.”

 

Asked if he knew what caused it, he said, “No.” Asked how many family members were living in the house of his wife’s family, he said four people ranging in age from 38 to 80 plus years. Asked if they had been in the house at the time the fire broke out, he said they had been but they managed to get out.

A police officer at the scene of the fire was overheard saying that one of the houses did not have any occupants in it at the time of the fire. We asked the man if he knew if this was the case. He appeared to agree, saying, “According to.. until now.. no.”

 

We also asked the FDNY about these comments but they did not answer this question.

 

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