The FDNY said there were no reported injuries following an afternoon residential fire in Bedford Park on Monday, June 24. However, a resident of the affected building later disputed this.

 

Firefighters said they received a call at 2.21 p.m. for a report of a fire on the 3rd floor of 3050 Grand Concourse a 6-story, residential dwelling (500 ft. x 100 ft.) at the junction of the Grand Concourse and East 204th Street.

They said all hands, 12 units, comprising 60 firefighters and EMS personnel arrived at the location and the fire was brought under control at 3.19 p.m., with no reported injuries.

 

Several residents were later seen outside on the street being assisted by the Red Cross, carrying a few items, including some with pets in carriers.

A video of the fire can be seen further below.

 

We spoke to one woman, Olga Polanco, who lives in the neighborhood and who was a the scene. She was accompanying a little boy whose grandmother lives adjacent to the impacted building.

“I don’t live in that building but my friend lives in this apartment that’s right across [from the apartment where the fire started],” Polanco said.

 

“He told me that the air conditioner that was at the window….. the lady [impacted apartment resident] was in the kitchen and she was cooking but she heard a very loud popping sound and it was the air conditioner.”

Polanco continued, “So we’re not sure if it was a wiring of the air conditioner or the air conditioner itself, but the fire just started and she ran Then, she got out. Everybody got out.”

 

Of her male friend who lived in the building, Polanco said, “His wall is next door so he doesn’t know how his apartment is. He’s outside [on the street]. Everybody was evacuating safely.”

Polanco said her friend also helped other people get out. Asked if he was ok, she replied, “Yeah, he’s fine.”  She mentioned that she was just coming from the dentist’s office and then she saw all the commotion and got worried for her friend.

 

At that point, the little boy accompanying Polanco said, “I found it first!” He added, “And I smelled it.” Asked if it was scary, the little boy said, “Yeah, I was crying and shaking.” Asked if he saw the flames of the fire, the little boy said, “Yeah, and it was touching the trees and they broke the ladder [fire escape?].” A branch of a nearby tree was later seen lying on the street in front of the building.

Surprised at the fire outbreak, Polanco continued in reference to the female occupant of the impacted apartment, “Today, it wasn’t such a hot day for the air conditioner but she was cooking, so maybe it was [inaudible/ a fault?]” There was a strong wind blowing on the Grand Concourse on Monday afternoon.

 

Meanwhile, the FDNY said the cause of the fire is being investigated by FDNY fire marshals.

Polanco alleged one resident said it took the fire department 20 minutes to arrive. We’ve reached out to the FDNY for comment and will share any feedback we receive. Polanco continued, “A man who came out of the building said, ‘It took 22 minutes for the fire department to come.’ I really don’t know but I know they’re not too far from here.”

 

Polanco pointed out the female occupant of the impacted apartment where the fire started to us who she estimated was about 70 years of age. The resident in question was speaking, we believe, in Albanian with some other people when we approached her. We attempted to speak to her but her colleagues said on her behalf that she declined to be interviewed.

FIRE TRUCKS ARE seen at the scene of an extinguished fire at 3050 Grand Concourse in Bedford Park on Monday afternoon, June 24, 2024.  Video courtesy of the Citizens’ App

We also spoke to residents, Anna and Marcus, who live on the top floor of the building and who were standing outside with several pets in carriers, along with other displaced residents.

 

We asked if they could let us know what happened from their perspective. “I’m not really sure what happened,” Anna said. “I just know there was a lot of smoke in the hallway, so we evacuated down the fire escape.” Asked if they smelled the smoke before they saw any fire, Marcus said, “The fire alarms were going off in the hallway and I heard that and I was like there’s a lot of them going off. Like, something’s going on.”

He continued, “So I went.. I opened the door and there’s all this smoke coming in. I heard people yelling so I was like okay, we got to get out now.”

 

Asked if they were familiar with the fire evacuation plan, and if anybody attempted to use an elevator [which is definitely NOT recommended when a fire breaks out, in case the electrics cut out and people get stuck inside it], Marcus said the building doesn’t have an elevator and that they just went out the external fire escape.

Asked if the bars of the fire escape were hot to touch because of the flames, Anna said they weren’t. Marcus added, “It was mostly the smoke.” Anna continued, “We pretty much grabbed our pets and got out.” Asked if the pets had been scared, Anna said, “Yeah, they were very scared. They’re still pretty freaked out.”

 

We mentioned that we had been advised by authorities previously that if ever there are pets left in an unoccupied apartment that goes on fire, it’s a good idea to put a list up right inside the apartment door that lists [in large clear lettering] the number of pets inside and where they are located in the apartment in case firefighters can manage to save them.

We asked Anna and Marcus if they were waiting to be rehoused by the Red Cross, and they said they were told by the Red Cross that they could definitely go back into their apartment once they got the go ahead from the FDNY. They mentioned that they believed some people were already going back in.

 

We asked them if there was anything else they wanted to add about fire safety. Marcus said, “Just glad that we got regulations that let us have things like fire escapes, you know?”

We asked if there was a sprinkler system in the building. Marcus said, “There is not. I wish we had legislation that said that, like, you have to have a fire alarm on every landing. I just learned actually from one of the housing folks that we were talking to that actually that’s not required. It’d be great if that was something that was actually required.” He added that it was required to have an alarm in each apartment but not necessarily in all the hallways.

 

Marcus said that he did hear an alarm at one point but not from his own hallway and even though on his hallway, there was a lot of smoke.

 

Some residents appeared to be in shock and declined to be interviewed. One female resident said she lived on the 3rd floor in an apartment close to where the fire started and said it had spread fast. She said she lost everything and the Red Cross took her information. She said she did not know where they were sending her and her family to be rehoused.

Another resident told us that “someone” was able to get into the apartment where the fire started and get some clothes and a bag full of stuff including a cell phone for the woman in whose apartment the fire started.

 

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.

 

Ned Klein from the Red Cross of Greater New York later confirmed that after the fire, the American Red Cross registered two households (two adults) for emergency assistance, including financial assistance.

 

“Any residents impacted by this fire who need help with their recovery and have not yet connected with the Red Cross should contact 877-RED CROSS (877-733-2767),” he said.

Sarah Geisler has since contacted Norwood News, and asked us to share the following gofundme page to help her aunt and uncle, Nelson Bressler and Jovita Dougan, who are residents of the affected building. “The fire occurred in the unit below theirs, and as a result their apartment took significant damage,” their niece wrote. “Naturally the ordeal has caused them immense stress, and now they face the daunting task of rebuilding their home.”

 

One female resident we spoke to alleged it took 20 minutes for the FDNY to arrive at the scene. When we rechecked this with the FDNY, they said, “Our response to this fire was under four minutes.”

Norwood News was later contacted by a resident called Barbara Gottlieb on Monday, Dec. 9, who informed us she lived in Apt. 3C of the affected building. She said she had been hospitalized following the fire and had been taken by police to the hospital.

We followed up with the FDNY to recheck the information originally provided by their spokesperson to us on the day of the fire, since we were informed there were no reported injuries. The department responded on Dec. 9 confirming they had no record of any reported injuries on the day.

*Miriam Quiñones contributed to this story.