Two firefighters were injured responding to a fire in Bedford Park on Wednesday afternoon, FDNY officials said.

A spokesperson for the fire department said the FDNY received a call at 1.48 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26, for a report of a fire/smoke at [3071] Villa Avenue (St. Philip Neri Way), a 2-story, private dwelling by East 204th Street and Bedford Park Boulevard. [The address was initially confirmed by FDNY as 3067 Villa Ave.]

To view two short videos of the fire courtesy of local residents, Moses and Manny, both 18, click here and here.

Upon arrival, the spokesperson said firefighters found fire throughout the building, and the 2-alarm fire drew 25 units comprising 106 fire personnel. EMS first responders and police were also seen at the scene of the fire while several residents took in the events, some in shock. A large section of Villa Avenue was blocked off.

FDNY officials said the fire was brought under control at 3.57 p.m., with external operations continuing thereafter. They said the cause and origin of the blaze is under investigation by fire marshals.

They went on to say that the two injured firefighters suffered minor injuries and were transported to area hospitals. One firefighter was seen dripping in sweat after responding to the incident on a day when temperatures hovered around 89 degrees.

Manny and Moses live on the top (6th floor) of the building adjacent to 3071 Villa Avenue. “We were just playing video games and we smelled smoke,” Moses and Manny said. “So, we went out to the window and there was just a whole bunch of like smoke and fire and then we came to our mom, and she also noticed it too, so we got water and closed all the windows and got out.” They added, “It turns out it was it was our bathroom was right next to this building so like with the window being open, it was coming inside.”

Asked if everyone in the adjacent building evacuated, one of the two said, “No, I think people on the other side are still in there.” Asked if it had been pretty scary, they said it had been. When we got outside, the flames got like bigger,” they said. “It was more noticeable.” Asked if they had seen any injured people, the two said, “Yeah, we saw some people on stretchers, down that block to the corner. Some of those people were carried down that way.”

Asked if they were conscious or unconscious, they said, “We couldn’t get that close. They wouldn’t let us in. From what it looks like, they [occupants of the affected building] stay in here. So, there’s probably people who don’t have homes. This is an abandoned building so it’s most likely homeless people who like took over and then when it caught on fire…”

When contacted, the NYPD said they had no reports of displaced people from the building. Norwood News also reached out to NYC Department of Social Services, NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) and NYC Department of Housing, Preservation & Development for more information on the building. The City’s DOB portal had no record of 3067 Villa Avenue, which was the original address provided for the fire. DOB later confirmed that their inspectors responded to a fire at 3071 Villa Avenue.

They identified the affected premises as a 2-family, semi-detached, 3-story wood frame building, and said DOB inspectors observed extensive fire damage throughout the building, including an open roof, and missing doors and windows on all floors. They said that due to the damage, DOB issued a Full Vacate Order on the structure, and issued an Emergency Order to seal the building in the interest of public safety.

The said the building owner was on site at the time of inspection, and said no injuries [other than to the firefighters] were reported. According to DOB records, there is a registered violation in place at 3071 Villa Avenue for failure to certify correction of a Class 1 Violation existing at the property and DOB civil penalities are due. According to City records, the owner of the property is James P. Arnaiz.

We also spoke to another resident, also called Moses, about what he saw. Speaking in Spanish, he said, “When I arrived, the building was already in flames and they were trying to calm the fire. They had managed to put about half of it out.”

Moses continued, “From what I could see, they were trying to avoid that the fire spread to the other buildings, and they were trying to find certain fire points, using technology, to try to extinguish it more quickly.”

Asked if he saw any injured people, Moses said, “From what I saw, there were stretchers but I didn’t see any injured people, but I can’t be 100 percent sure. That’s all I know… just that the fire was continuing to burn, just like it is right now.”

As reported, a separate Bedford Park fire broke out a few blocks from this latest fire on Monday, June 24, at East 204th  Street and the Grand Concourse.

Read our recent story regarding three Bronx e-bike fires which broke out over the course of 12 days here. New York City Council voted to pass additional e-bike safety rules to address the dangers of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in February 2024.

New laws have also been introduced at a federal and State level to address fire safety prevention and the hazards of lithium-ion batteries and e-bikes. Click here for details of a prior federal recall of 53,000 scooters due to a fire hazard involving the deaths of two children.

Click here to read FDNY’s fire safety tips on the use of lithium-ion batteries. For tips on how to beat the heat, including discounts available from the City of New York for the installation of air conditioning units, click here.

*Miriam Quiñones contributed to this story. 

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story said FDNY received the call at 11.48 p.m. rather than 1.48 p.m. This was a typo. We apologize. It has since been corrected. 

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.