There were no injuries reported after a fire broke out in a residential building on Tuesday night on the Morris Heights / University Heights border, FDNY officials said.

 

An FDNY spokesperson said that the department received a call at 9.44 p.m. for reports of smoke / a fire at 1978 University Avenue, a 5-story multiple dwelling (50×75) located between Burnside Avenue and West 179th Street.

They said the fire was on the fourth floor, and that 12 units, comprising 60 fire and EMS personnel, responded to the scene. They said there were no injuries, and the fire was brought under control at 10.22 p.m.

 

Videos and images posted to social media on Tuesday night showed flames coming out of a window on one of the higher floors. Some residents were seen returning inside the building after the fire was extinguished, and seemed in shock. One resident who was entering a lower level apartment who declined to comment suggested to speak with residents who live on the fourth floor, adding that that’s where the fire was. However, the affected residents declined to comment.

Broken glass was seen on the street in front of the building and along the stairway inside, along with puddles of water. There was also a smell of residual smoke inside and some people were heard requesting facemasks. We spoke to one young male resident from the building next door to the affected building, who said he lives on the second floor, and asked if he knew what had caused the fire to ignite. “I got here after it happened, but It looked kind of bad from what I saw,” he said.

 

We asked if all the residents in the affected building and in the adjacent building had evacuated and the resident said, “Yeah, they did. I’m just waiting for it [the smoke] to clear out so I could go back up,” he said. Asked where everyone was as there didn’t appear to be many people on the street, the resident said, “I don’t know. Some of them went that way,” gesturing in the direction of West 179th Street and University Avenue.

“I think some of them went up to check on their house [apartment],” he added. “I haven’t went up yet because my windows were closed, so I know it’s fine.”

 

The resident said the firefighters also checked the adjacent building in which the resident lived to ensure the fire hadn’t spread to it. It was good, thank God,” he said.

 

We spoke to another female resident of another nearby building and asked if she had seen the building on fire. “When we came out, the fire, basically, was done,” she said. “They was knocking out the windows and stuff like that, and checking the floors. It was done like at that point.” Asked how she had been alerted to the fire, she said, “My girlfriend called my phone because I thought it was my incense burning.”

She added, “My neighbors have some strong incense, and then she called me, like, ‘No! We burning! We burning!’ I’m like, ‘We burning?’ But the way she said it, I’m like, I had to come outside. She like, ‘We burning!’ I’m like, ‘Wait! Our building? So, when I came out, it was our other building across the street.”

 

Asked if she had smelled the smoke from inside her own building, which was located across the street from the affected building but a few doors down from it, she said, “Yeah, I live on the first floor. That’s why I was able to smell it.” Asked if her windows had been open or shut, she said, “My windows were open. Yeah, I just came home from work, so I’m like, Wait a minute! [They] might be burning some strong incense, but no, she called me like, ‘No! Ain’t no incense, girl! We burning!'”

The woman then said she hoped her neighbors were alright, and agreed the firefighters appeared to have contained the fire quite quickly. “So, yeah, when I came out, it was pretty much done. They wrapping it up and went back to their station, and now the landlord and them is over there, cleaning up!” Asked if they had regular fire drills in her own building, she said they did not. “They don’t practice nothin’ around here.”

 

The Red Cross were witnessed at the scene talking to residents. Later, we asked the Red Cross press team if any residents had been rehoused. A representative replied, saying, “After the fire on University Ave in the Bronx, the American Red Cross registered three households (five adults) for emergency assistance, including emergency temporary lodging for one household. The team also provided cleaning supplies for other residents in the building.”

Click here to read FDNY’s fire safety tips. “During a fire, always close the door behind you!” fire officials say. “It helps contain smoke and flames, giving you precious time to escape. Your quick action can make the difference.”

 

Read our coverage of some other recent fires here, here, and here.