A fire broke out at Fordham Hill Oval Housing Co-op in the University Heights section of the Bronx on Thursday evening, Dec. 8, FDNY officials said. There were no injuries, they added.

 

According to the FDNY, the alarm was raised at 8.19 p.m. regarding the fire which reportedly broke out in Apt. 12A on the 12th floor of a 15-story building at the multiple dwelling located at 1 Fordham Hill Oval. It was brought under control at 8.53 p.m. It was classified as a 10-77 meaning a high-rise, multiple dwelling fire.

Fire department officials said 20 units comprising 78 firefighters responded to the scene which resulted in no injuries. The building was not evacuated, FDNY officials said.

 

A resident of Fordham Hill Oval later told Norwood News the fire was in Building 4. This was later confirmed by the FDNY. He added, “There was quite a bit of water damage, with water trailing down the stairway all the way down to the basement.”

“Also, I was made aware that not all fire vehicles were able to park next to the building because the big trucks were already there,” the resident added.

 

Several fire trucks were seen outside the housing complex in different videos posted to the Citizens’ App by various users.

Bronx All Hands Box 3316, 4 FORDHAM HILL OVAL, MULTIPLE DWELLING A

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) December 9, 2022

Norwood News recently received a complaint from another Bronx resident of commercial trucks parking overnight on West Gun Hill Road and Mosholu Parkway on the border of Norwood and Van Cortlandt Village, which she said were causing a traffic hazard. “Every morning, on my way to work, I see traffic police towing and/or locking up cars, but ignoring the massive trucks,” she said. “The trucks cause unsafe driving for school buses and pedestrians and yet, nobody cares.”

 

Norwood News raised the issue of the trucks with both the NYPD and NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) on Dec. 7, and awaits a response. In the meantime, the resident told us on Dec. 8 the trucks were not there anymore. “This morning, they were gone, first time in six weeks,” she said.  “Last night, with the rain and dusk light, it was super dangerous.”

 

Norwood News has since raised the comment made by the Fordham Hill Oval resident regarding the alleged blocking of some FDNY trucks responding to the December 8th fire by other big trucks parked outside the housing complex, with the FDNY, the NYPD, and DOT.

 

A fire department official later responded, saying, “According to the responding units, there were no issues regarding any trucks outside the location.”

 

We later spoke to Jackie Butler who lives in Building 2 which she said was next to Building 4 at Fordham Hill, as well as to William Casper, a Fordham Hill resident. “I saw, I’d say, like, seven fire trucks,” Jackie said. “According to the fireman, he said he don’t know how the fire started,” she continued. “Plus, I asked him, ‘Did they have a fire detector,’ and he said, ‘No’.”

 

Asked how residents were made aware that there was a fire, Butler said, “Well, that’s what I was going to say. We need to talk to somebody about it, and see if we can and see if we can…I know.. we’re going to.. I know we’re going to have one..  I know that the residents that we [inaudible] is going to have one in January, but I don’t know about anyone else if we’re going to have one.”

 

Having working smoke/CO alarms is critical to preventing serious injuries and damage when fires occur. For more fire and life safety tips visit https://t.co/NpwdRdmcbw pic.twitter.com/2UBVBuWL6B

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 9, 2022

 

Asked if a fire alarm went off in Building 2, Butler said, “No,” and added that she spoke to a fire fighter who was holding a hose on the night in question. Asked if regular fire drills were held in the housing complex, Casper said, “With the fire drills, they do them every three months now. They used to do it every month, but now they’re cutting back on that. They should do like every month but now, we have every three months now.”

 

Another Fordham Hill resident provided Norwood News with a copy of a fire notice affixed to one of the walls in one of the buildings. The Fordham Hill Oval property, a private co-op, includes nine high-rise buildings comprising a total of 1,130 apartments, a parking garage, and a 30-unit rental building owned by the cooperative. It was built in 1950 and converted to a cooperative in 1982. Residents recently celebrated the Co-op’s 40th anniversary. The complex is home to some current and former Bronx elected officials.

 

The resident who provided the fire notice said, “Not every front door has this placed inside the apartment. It is a heavy foil sticker.”

Bronx All Hands Box 3316, 4 FORDHAM HILL OVAL, MULTIPLE DWELLING A, APT 12A, Under Control

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) December 9, 2022

 

We asked Rachel Miller-Bradshaw, the FHOC board secretary, with whom we have corresponded on a number of previous Fordham Manor-related stories, if the board wanted to provide a comment on the incident. She responded, implying the fire was not “real news,” adding, “Ask yourself. Does anyone care?”

 

The fire department later confirmed that unattended candles in one of the apartments at Fordham Hill triggered the smoke alarm. “The occupant where the fire started was not home at the time but a neighbor heard the smoke detector and called 911,” officials said. “Thanks to the quick response of firefighters and the working smoke alarm, there were no injuries and damage was confined to that apartment,’ they added.

 

They added that it turned out that the smoke alarms had been installed by the FDNY Fire Safety Education Unit months before. FDNY officials added that with the support of the FDNY Foundation, FDNY has installed and distributed more than 13,000 smoke alarms during 2022, in addition to the thousands of alarms given away as part of the department’s outreach.

 

“Having working smoke/CO alarms is critical to preventing serious injuries and damage when fires occur,” an FDNY spokesperson added. “For more fire and life safety tips visit http://fdnysmart.org.”

Earlier on Thursday, the FDNY was called to respond to an incident at 700 Exterior Street in the South Bronx when two people fell down the elevator shaft of a Target store.

 

Deputy Assistant FDNY Chief John Sarrocco, who was at the scene of the incident, said, “At approximately 11:15, we received a call for two people who had fallen down an elevator shaft. We responded in approximately three minutes, we found two victims in the elevator shaft. One was on top of the elevator, the second one past the elevator in the elevator pit.”

 

Sarrocco added, “The first victim was removed immediately. The second victim was a little more difficult operation. He was underneath the elevator. We had to secure the elevator, set the brake. We sent our members and rescue paramedics down below to treat that victim. We had to breach a wall and set up a mechanical advantage in order to lift the person out of the elevator pit which was approximately 10-15 feet below the car.”

Be #FDNYSmart – NEVER park on a fire hydrant. FDNY urges New Yorkers to NEVER park on a fire hydrant. Blocking or obstructing a hydrant results in a delay in providing water to extinguish a fire. It is illegal to park within 15 feet of either side of a fire hydrant. pic.twitter.com/ArkQlirJ4Z

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 7, 2022

FDNY EMS Division Chief Flynn later said, “ We had two patients, one serious and one critical that were transported to local area hospitals. For this operation we had our rescue paramedics, EMTs and paramedics working in conjunction with the firefighters to accomplish removal of that second victim.”

 

Sarrocco later said of the rescue team, “This is the best the FDNY has to offer. The training that goes on every day in order to do a technical rescue like that between the FDNY Fire Operations and FDNY EMS Operations, working in concert with each other in order to save this person’s life, who was underneath, is just astounding.”

 

The NY Daily News reported that prior to the elevator fall incident, the 29-year-old victim, a loss prevention officer for Target, was fighting with a teen when they rammed the closed elevator door.

 

Bronxites can visit http://fdnysmart.org for fire safety tips.