As FDNY investigation operations continue at 2910 Wallace in the Allerton section of The Bronx following a devastating fire, the cause of which is still unknown, in the early hours of Friday, Jan. 10, displaced residents whose homes were obliterated in the blaze face an uncertain future.

 

As reported on Friday, there were no major injuries incurred following the massive fire that occurred a day after the third anniversary of the tragic Twin Parks blaze killed 17 people, including 8 children in the Fordham Heights section of The Bronx.

 

The FDNY said the department received a call at 1.40 a.m. and units were assigned to the location for reports of a fire in a multiple dwelling. A spokesperson said firefighters were able to determine that the fire was located on the top floor of a 6-story multiple dwelling at that location, adding that the emergency was elevated to a second alarm at 1.53 a.m., to a third alarm fire at 2.11 a.m., to a fourth alarm at 2.23 a.m., and to a fifth alarm fire at 2.49 a.m.

The FDNY said 44 units comprising 198 personnel responded to the scene and there were eight injuries (six firefighters and two civilians). Seven of the patients were transported to local hospitals, and one civilian was treated at the scene but refused transport. Operations remained ongoing at the scene on Friday night, as witnessed in this video recorded at around 6.30 p.m. The FDNY had earlier provided the following video footage of the scene while the fire was still raging. For more coverage on our initial story on the fire, click here.

 

Later on Friday evening, at the reception center opened by the Red Cross and NYC Emergency Management at nearby P.S. 76 at 900 Adee Avenue, also in Allerton, we spoke to Tamika Perkins who lived on the sixth (top) floor of the affected building. The reception center, which was closed at that point, had been opened in order to assist and register those displaced by the blaze. We asked Perkins if she could describe what happened.

 

“I was asleep,” Perkins said, adding that she thought the fire started around 2 a.m. “A little after two, I just heard, like, stomping. I thought I was dreaming [but] I got up out of my sleep. I’m like, ‘What the heck is that noise?’ And it sounded like somebody was on the roof marching, and I’m like, ‘Is that, like, the cops or something chasing somebody?’ So I said, ‘Wait a minute!’ I see lights on my window, so I tiptoe and open the shade, and I see the ladder going up. So I run into the living room. I wake up my mother, wake up my grandmother, who was sleeping but they were, like, in and out of sleep.”

Perkins continued, “And I’m like, ‘There’s a fire! I smell it!’ And you can smell it once you came out of my room. So I open a door, and you can see where the firemen were.. they were trying to get into the apartment that’s three doors down from me but, like, I have a door next to me. Then there’s a space for the elevator, and then there’s two more doors. It was in her apartment, but it was electrical. It started in her floor. So, everything on the top floor, everybody who lived on the top floor has nothing to go back to. We have nothing, nothing in the apartment.”

 

The young female resident, her voice shaking at times, went on to say, “So then they [firefighters] came to our apartment to check if it was coming from our walls, and they said, ‘Okay, no fire.’ He was like, ‘Okay, no, it’s not your wall.’ So, they kept going back down, and he’s going from door to door. So then he tried to bang down the door next to me, because nobody was answering but they didn’t even know. They just wanted to get through the door, which..” She indicated that she understood their approach given the urgency. “So once they came back to me, he tried to push the door, but I’m like, ‘I’m right here!’ so I opened the door.”

 

Perkins said, “Just before that something in my mind said, ‘Just get dressed, just in case.’ And I went to them [family members] and I said, ‘Mom, get dressed, just in case.’ She’s like, ‘Okay!’ As soon as I said that, they [firefighters] come at the door. I open up the door for them and he goes, ‘It’s spreading. You need to leave.’ And right before he was about to bang down the wall to open the wall, another one [firefighter] comes to the door. He tries to bang down the door, and [we’re] like no, no, no! They [firefighters] were in here…”

The resident continued, “So, I opened the door and we get out. My mom is elderly. She just had surgery, so we got to walk slowly down the steps with her, because she had a walker. My grandmother’s elderly. We just had to get out. I only was able to grab my wallet. I didn’t even think about anything else….get them out, get them safe. It wasn’t about me. It was about them, wanting them out first, and me after.”

 

Given the horrific images seen of the fire from the exterior of the building even from far away, we asked Perkins if she could see flames inside as they existed, “Um.. when we got out, yes. We saw smoke in the hallway, but I couldn’t see. It was just pure smoke because we went down the opposite direction [from the fire] and the lights were off. You can’t see because everything’s off, so we just went by on those steps, but we couldn’t see. We didn’t see nothing until we got to a friend’s house and we started seeing the video. Somebody posted it because they saw it. They live, like, four or five blocks down. They live [upstairs] and they saw the flames. By then, it had spread so much.”

 

Asked given the time she appeared to be interacting with the firefighters if the smoke had not overoverwhelmed her inside the building, and given she was seemingly so close to the origin of the fire, Perkins said, “No, not at that point. Once I opened the door, okay, yeah, it was. It was [all] over.. because I opened the door twice…just keep checking, because I heard them, but it was overwhelming opening doors. I kept closing [them] because I have asthma. We all have asthma. My mom and I have asthma.”

Asked if the fire alarms were sounding, Perkins reflected for a moment before saying, “No, I couldn’t hear it. I heard noise, but I was so focused on them getting out. I didn’t even… I tuned it out…”

 

Later, at the scene of the fire, we spoke to “Mike,” a male resident living in a nearby building on the corner of Wallace Avenue and Arnow Avenue and asked him if he knew any of his neighbors at 2910 Wallace Avenue who had been displaced. He said, “Yeah, on the sixth floor. He used to live there with his mother.” Asked if he had been in touch with him, Mike said, “Nah.” We mentioned that there were no fatalities and only minor injuries so the likelihood was that his friend / neighbor was maybe being housed at a hotel but may not have a cellphone with him.

 

We mentioned that neighbors were being registered at P.S. 76 and that the Red Cross may be able to let him know where his friend is staying. Asked if it was an elderly man, Mike said, “Yeah, he’s ok I guess. His mother’s a little elderly. I guess that everybody’s alright. Yeah, I’ll check over there tomorrow. Yeah, it’s messed up.”

Still at the scene of the fire, where FDNY investigators, EMS and other City agency personnel were still on site continuing operations, we also spoke to Christine Culpepper de-Ruiz, female district leader of the 80th Assembly District, represented by Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr.

 

“I definitely wanted to express my concern for families that have been displaced,” Culpepper de-Ruiz said. “John Zaccaro’s office, along with the other elected leaders in the area, are doing their part assessing the situation and making a list of what the displaced residents needs are going to be. I’m sure that there are initiatives already being organized to get the residents things that they’re going to need.”

 

The district leader added, “At the moment, they’re being housed in hotels and [being] fed, and then there are going to be probably other initiatives to see what ongoing services are going to be necessary for these residents. Looking at the damage in these buildings, obviously, housing is going to be necessary. So, I don’t know what that looks like… temporary housing, you know, permanent housing somewhere else…. that’s going to be a decision that has to come from the elected leaders at the top of our community, the mayor’s office, the Bronx borough president, city council members, senators and all of that stuff.”

Culpepper de-Ruiz continued, “This is unfortunate, and we see these types of tragedies too often in The Bronx, and it’s really going to be important moving forward to think about how we are more proactive in deterring these kinds of accidents they go on. You know about prevention, talking about these kinds of things. I’ve heard it doesn’t seem like it was something to do with hot heaters.”

 

We mentioned that the cause is not yet known according to the FDNY but mentioned that there had been violations recorded for the building with regard to the boiler and questions about whether residents had potentially used stoves/ovens to heat their homes.

 

The district leader added, “So, that has addressed as well separately, right? Because if this is not as a result of something like people using stoves or heaters, as a result of a lack of heating, then that also has to be addressed. Why are complaints open, complaints like this being not addressed and how do we do better about addressing these issues?”

Irene Estrada, a former Democratic female district leader for A.D. 80 and current clergy council member of the 49th Precinct, was also present at the site of the fire on Friday night. Estrada recently ran for office for State senate on the Conservative Party ticket in the general election on Nov. 5, 2024, to represent senatorial district 36. Estrada lost and the seat continues to be held by Democratic State Sen.Jamaal Bailey who is also the Bronx Democratic Party chair.

 

As reported, Estrada previously ran and lost the 2023 District 13 Democratic Primary. The seat was ultimately won in the general election by now City Councilwoman Kirsty Marmorato, representing the Republican Party. Marmorato also ran on the Conservative Party ticket.  

 

As reported, earlier on Friday, Estrada had said on social media of the devastating fire, “Please keep our Allerton community in prayer. I posted early this morning but the post hadn’t gotten approved. The unity in this crisis is the most important thing we, as Bronxites, need.” She told Norwood News on Friday night she was ready to do whatever she could to help her affected Allerton neighbors.

Malcolm Gray, a resident of the East Bronx and manager with the Jerome Gun Hill BID, was also at the scene and gave his reaction to the tragedy, saying, “It’s very heartbreaking that we had to start the new year off like this. You know, my heart and prayers go out to our fellow neighbors and the community members. I hope that our elected officials and our City works hard to rehoused people who have lost their homes.”

 

He continued, “But this also goes into the situation in which this landlord has had many complaints and violations on this building, and that’s the conversation about housing insecurity and ensuring that we have an adequate housing system in which our fellow neighbors are able to come home, go to sleep, and wake up well housed, you know? And I hope that this is the issue that we’re able to rectify as soon as possible.”

Diana Finch of the Bronx Park East Community Association, and who, as reported, is also a strong advocate for animal welfare, was also on site on Friday night. She told Norwood News, “One of the women who lives just down the block in one of the smaller buildings said she woke up in the middle of the night smelling smoke, and there was smoke in her apartment, smoke in the hallway.”

 

Finch continued, “She was really scared that there was a fire in her building, and she ran out and then found out that it was coming from this fire (2910 Wallace Avenue). The wind was so strong, it was just blowing the smoke down the street and into all the other buildings, just one block down on Wallace Avenue.” She added that she was also concerned for any pets that might still be deserted in the building.

 

Any persons impacted who need recovery assistance and have not already connected with Red Cross services should contact 1-877-RED CROSS (1-877-733-2767). NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) crews had begun asbestos testing in the area on Friday.

 

The Red Cross provided a status update as of 6 p.m. on their operations at P.S. 76, 900 Adee Avenue, the temporary reception center opened to provide a warm place for families to gather and to register for Red Cross emergency services, saying the organization had registered 285 individuals for emergency assistance.

 

They said meals and other supplies were made available for residents at the reception center, which is now closed. “Please note, it will not reopen,” a Red Cross representative said. “Residents of 2910 Wallace Ave in the Bronx who have been displaced by this fire and have not yet connected with the Red Cross for assistance should call 877-Red Cross (Option 1).”

 

The representative added that as of 5.30 p.m. on Jan. 11, the Red Cross had registered 101 households (64 children / 221 adults) for emergency assistance, including more than 75 households for emergency temporary lodging. They said over the next few days, residents will meet with Red Cross caseworkers to discuss their longer-term recovery needs and be connected with other nonprofit organizations and/or government agencies that may be able to provide longer-term support.

 

The Red Cross thanked PS 76, Community School District 11 and the NYC Department of Education for their hospitality and support for the residents affected by the fire. They also thanked ASPCA/ACC, local Bronx elected officials, NYCEM, NYPD, FDNY, MTA, Not on My Watch, IHOP (Allerton Avenue), Mamma Rosa, and local community members who supported their neighbors.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson – Bronx Supreme Court

851 Grand Concourse, Suite 123

Bronx, New York 10451

Assembly Member John Zaccaro, Jr. District Office

2018 Williamsbridge Road

Bronx, New York 10461

State Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey District Office

959 East 233rd Street

Bronx, New York 10466

City Council Member Kevin C. Riley District Office

940 East Gun Hill Road

 

Read our previous coverage on the fire, including a list of violations recorded by NYC Department of Buildings linked to the building’s boiler, here.