At least three civilians were injured, one seriously, a firefighter suffered a minor injury, and several families are displaced ahead of the New Year, after four fires broke out within a 12-hour period across Bedford Park and Kingsbridge Heights at the start of the weekend.

According to the FDNY, firefighters were first called to 319 East 197th Street at Pond Place, also known as William Valcarcel Place, in Bedford Park at 3:57 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 29, for a report of a fire on the second floor of a 6-story, apartment building.

FDNY officials reported that 12 units, comprising 60 firefighters battled the fire, which they said was contained at 4:28 p.m., with one civilian transported to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition.

Norwood News asked the FDNY if the cause of the fire had yet been determined. We did not receive an immediate response.

The following day the windows of the first-floor apartment of the building were boarded up and a notice was left on the door from the Red Cross.

 

A resident of the block who was not home at the time the fire broke out said a man in his sixties had lived in the first-floor apartment of the affected building for at least the past decade.

The FDNY said a second fire broke out at 2877 Grand Concourse, between Minerva Place and East 199th Street, also in Bedford Park, at 8:05 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 29.

FDNY officials said the fire started on the first floor of a 6-story apartment building, with the blaze extending to a second-floor apartment.

An FDNY spokesperson said 25 units comprising 106 fire and EMS personnel responded to the incident. The spokesperson said firefighters battled the two-alarm fire and brought it under control at 8.59 p.m.

Two civilians were transported to Jacobi Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the FDNY.

Some residents said there have been problems with maintenance, heating and gas in the building. Five open complaints for the address in question listed with NYC Department of Housing, Preservation & Development (HPD) relate to cooking gas which has been shut off and loose/defective window frames.

Meanwhile there are 50 open violations listed with HPD since 2011. Norwood News is attempting to reach the building’s management company for comment.

We asked the FDNY about a report from a resident that fire trucks were called back to the building a half hour after the fire had been brought under control. They did not immediately respond to our question.

A lot of the apartments in the building were seen with their lights on at around 8 p.m., suggesting that perhaps most of the tenants were home at the time.

A number of distraught-looking residents were seen outside the building giving their information to the Red Cross later that evening and the exterior walls were seen marked with trails of black smoke. Some residents were later allowed back into the building after an earlier evacuation.

 

A third fire was reported at 2820 University Avenue at West 197th Street in the Kingsbridge Heights section of the borough. FDNY officials said the fire broke out on the second floor of a two-story, private dwelling after midnight at 00.05 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 30.

They said the blaze was brought under control at 1.27 a.m., one firefighter suffered a minor injury and was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital.

As reported, FDNY officials also responded to a fourth fire at 169 East 205th Street, between the Grand Concourse and East Mosholu Parkway South in Bedford Park, at 1 a.m. also on Saturday, December 30. An FDNY spokesperson said the fire broke out in the basement of the multiple dwelling underneath Gourmet Deli.

An FDNY spokesperson said 12 units comprising 60 firefighters brought the fire under control at 2.24 a.m. and no injuries were reported. The spokesperson said the cause of the blaze remains under investigation by fire marshals.

As reported, a three-alarm fire on Dec. 18 and which gutted a Kingsbridge Heights deli was caused by lithium-ion batteries, FDNY officials said.

Also, a Christmas Day residential fire in Kingsbridge resulted in no injuries. Meanwhile, as reported, a fire which broke out on Dec. 26 at 3060 Hull Avenue in Norwood resulted in one minor injury.

Earlier this month, on Dec. 13, as reported, a five-alarm fire ripped through several small businesses in Kingsbridge, resulting in one minor injury.

Visit www.FDNYSmart.org for fire safety recommendations.

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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.