The FDNY responded to two separate fires, one, a 3-alarm fire involving three cars, in the Van Nest section of The Bronx, just north of Parkchester, on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 12, with no injuries reported.

 

Fire officials said they received a call at 2.16 p.m. for a report of a building fire at 1601 Bronxdale Avenue (a Parts Authority) in Van Nest between Van Nest Avenue and East Tremont Avenue. They said foam operations were conducted to extinguish the fire, and 33 fire units, comprising 138 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene, along with officials from NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). A Con Edison building is located at 1615 Bronxdale Avenue.

They said fire marshals were notified and are investigating the incident further. FDNY officials described the location as a warehouse (300 x 100 woodpelts were on fire); and said three hose lines were put into operation. They said the fire was brought under control at 5.49 p.m. with no reported injuries.

 

They said the second fire was at 1650 White Plains Road (Con Ed) at Baker Avenue also in Van Nest, north of Parkchester. They said they received a a call at 2.35 p.m. for a report of a transformer fire in a substation (an Amtrak station). They said foam operations were deployed to knock down the fire, and that “all hands” were transmitted to the area for three burning cars and an AMTRAK transformer fire.

 

They said one foam line was put into operation and that 12 units comprising 60 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene. They said the fire was brought under control at 5.50 p.m. with no reported injuries.

During a press conference later on Tuesday, Nov. 12, FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods reconfirmed that at 2.16 p.m. the fire department received a call regarding the fire at 1601 Bronxdale Avenue (Parts Authority).

 

“This is a very large, 60,000-square-foot building,” Woods said. “This building is used for the storage of auto parts, hydraulic equipment, pallets, vehicles. Upon arrival, we had a very, very heavy fire condition. We used multiple lines to extinguish this fire. This went to a third alarm assignment.”

 

Woods continued, “We had two separate and distinct fires. About a quarter mile away, we had an additional fire and a transformer, an Amtrak transformer, and three vehicles also on fire at that location. So, it took us quite a while to extinguish that fire. We had to have all train traffic [stopped?]. We had to have the overhead catenary wires power removed from them.”

Woods said they needed to remove power from the transformer, and there was residual electricity that had to be grounded as well. “So on that fire, we used firefighting foam,” he said. “Firefighting foam, it cools, smothers, separates and suppresses the flammable liquid vapors. You need a flammable liquid, you need oil, to actually cool these transformers.”

 

Woods said the FDNY worked very closely with all agency partners, NYSAM, NYPD, Amtrak and others. Right now, both of these fires are under control.”

 

Asked about the two separate fires and if they were related, Woods said, “That is under investigation. I cannot deny nor confirm that they are related.” He said Amtrak personnel were looking into it. Asked if there was a brush fire also, Woods said, “Again, we’re looking at that. Our fire marshals are investigating all of that. There was brush burning outside of the building, so we don’t know if that was the cause of the fire at this time.”

He said they were investigating with DEP and added, “We’re not sure if a brush fire was the cause. But brush fires…. right now, it’s extremely dry. As you know, we haven’t had rain for quite a while, and there’s been more brush fires in the past 11 days than we’ve had in any previous month in over two years. We’re on top of that in the FDNY. We are using additional resources, and we just want to send a few safety messages. Don’t burn outside. Don’t have any campfires outside. If you discard a cigarette, please put it out, and if you do see anything smoldering or burning, please call 911. Keep the windows closed.”

 

Asked about a possible transformer explosion, Woods said, “We’re looking into all of that, but it was a very, very heavy fire in both the transformer and in this structure.”

 

Woods said they don’t like using water or foam on electrical fires. “So, we have to remove the power to the transformer. We have to remove power to the catenary lines. Catenary lines are the lines you see above the train used for electricity. After we remove the power, there’s still residual electricity that we have to ground, and that’s why it takes so long before we can put water or foam on that fire.”

Woods said there were “no injuries whatsoever.” Asked if train travel was affected, Woods deferred to Amtrak, but added, “Right now, all train movement is stopped because of the power issues, but they were currently doing an assessment to see how much damage there is. So right now, there is no train movement between New York and New England.”

 

We also spoke to Con Ed and Philip O’Brien said, “The fire started on the tracks through Amtrak equipment. The fire then… well, it was a spark that lit up the ground. I don’t know if it was leaves or branches or whatever, but it lit up the ground around the tracks. The fire went in one direction to a warehouse, the name of which I do not know, and that resulted in a 3-alarm fire [1601 Bronxdale Ave], which is pretty big. The fire went in the other direction to a Con Edison parking lot as part of its substation there.”

 

O’Brien said there was no effect on Metro North, “which doesn’t use that spur.” We’ve reached out to Amtrak for comment and on Wednesday, Jason Abrams, senior public relations manager, said, “Initial reports have the brush fire stemming from a transformer at an Amtrak substation. An investigation is underway for more details on cause.”

 

We asked for the exact location of the initial spark and he said, “In terms of location, I have East Tremont Avenue.”

 

Read our recent coverage on recent brush fires amid the recent drought watch, here and here.