Fire department officials said one elderly female resident was hospitalized following an “all hands” fire at 2364 Tiebout Avenue in Fordham Heights on Tuesday, March 28. An FDNY spokesperson said the department received a report of smoke and a fire on the 4^th floor of the 6-story, multiple dwelling at 1:16 p.m. on the day of the blaze.

 

Twelve fire units, comprising 60 personnel arrived at the scene, according to the FDNY. “One civilian in serious condition [was] transported to Jacobi Hospital,” the spokesperson later said, adding that the fire was brought under control at 2.22 p.m. and the cause was under investigation.

After it was extinguished, residents were seen mopping up water inside the building. Norwood News spoke to building residents, Star and Savannah, who said they lived on the third floor. Savannah explained that their whole apartment had gotten flooded due to the water hoses used to extinguish the fire. “The water is coming down from the floor above,” she said. “You can’t even go inside,” she added.

 

Asked what had happened, Star said, “There was a fire on the 4th floor. They believe the lady was sleeping but I don’t know what caused the fire.” Asked if anyone else was hurt apart from the woman who was taken to hospital, Star said, “I don’t know if she was hurt but she had a breathing machine on, but I don’t know any more than that. She was on a stretcher. Nobody was hurt. The apartment is hurt but nobody else is hurt!”

Asked if the building has regular fire drills, Star said in part, “Yeah, everyone left when they heard it. Everybody evacuated.” We asked if they were receiving assistance from the Red Cross. Star said, “Oh no [inaudible] I don’t know where. I’m underneath. I’m just going to wait it out ’til the apartment don’t smell no more.”

 

She added, “You can see how bad it is. I don’t even know the extent of it. We’ve been outside.” She said that the FDNY were quick to arrive. Asked how long they had been waiting outside since they were evacuated, Savannah said about two hours and added that they were on their way to go get something to eat.

We spoke to another female resident of the building, Fonia Griffiths, and asked if she knew what had happened. She said, “Well, they say the old lady that live in there, that she have a lot of candles burning and she been warned not to left the candle and she’s still burning the candle. That’s what them people in the building said but I don’t know. My place is ok, thank God. I have a place to sleep tonight!”

 

We later spoke to brothers, Wilfredo Peña and Wilmar Peña. The two said they live in New Jersey but were working in the area and had gathered along with a crowd of nearby residents at the scene. Speaking in Spanish, Wilfredo said, “There was a lot of smoke coming out of the apartment. We saw the firefighters and all that, and they started to [inaudible] through the window.”

Asked if the firefighters had rescued the woman who was reported injured through the 4th floor window, Wilfredo said he couldn’t say for sure but he assumed that by the time the brothers arrived at the scene, the resident had already been taken to the hospital. “She hasn’t arrived yet [at the hospital] from what I’ve been told,” he said at around 3 p.m. Asked if they had witnessed any other fires in the area while working there, they said they had not.

 

We asked if regular fire drills were carried out in the buildings in which they lived. Wilfredo said, “Yes, There’s all that.” Asked how many times a year the drills were carried out, he said he couldn’t say for sure but that there were drills for sure.

We also spoke with Jesús Ramón who was working in a bodega located at the corner of the impacted building and who, speaking in Spanish, said he evacuated like everyone else and saw there was a fire on the 4th floor, and firefighters throwing out a lot of trash from the apartment. He said, to his knowledge, the emergency services administered CPR to the victim who he described as elderly, and said she had been taken away by ambulance.

 

We also spoke to another employee of the bodega who, speaking in Spanish, provided a similar account of what had happened and said there was a lot of smoke on the 4th floor and maybe the third. “We don’t know exactly what happened,” he said, and added that some water was also seeping through the ceiling of the bodega.

Later, inside the building, we spoke to Xiomara Ortega who said her mother lived underneath the apartment where the fire broke out but had not been there when it happened. She said once she heard the news her family came by “really fast” to rescue a petrified little dog who appeared to be a bit sooty and was still frantically trembling in the arms of a small child.

 

The little dog had reportedly been in Ortega’s mother’s apartment alone when the fire broke out. It was not immediately clear if the animal had been treated for smoke inhalation or if it had been given anything to drink. “Yeah, I was scared for the dog,” Ortega said.

She said there was damage to the ceiling and elsewhere from the water and her mom didn’t have renter’s insurance. When we mentioned that the Red Cross might be able to assist, she said she would follow-up with them. Asked if there was anything else she wanted to add about the incident, she said, “No, everybody is safe, and just water damage.”

 

Back outside, we spoke to a young French couple from Paris who were visiting The Bronx that day. Speaking in French, Clement Blondeau said he was impressed by the number of firefighters and trucks at the scene, adding that they had caused a major traffic jam in the vicinity. He added, “It was surprising to see the firefighters throwing everything they found [in the apartment, including some furniture] out the window, without taking into account everything below, the cars etc.”

We later asked the FDNY for comment on this point. An official said, “I do not know the specific reason for that at today’s fire. It’s often done for many reasons – to complete searches, overhaul the fire room, to make sure everything is out.. could be in the way of another room…many different reasons.”

 

Click here to view a short video of items being thrown out of the window by firefighters at the scene of the fire.

The American Red Cross gives the following advice regarding pets and fire safety. “Keep pets near entrances when away from home. Keep collars on pets and leashes at the ready in case firefighters need to rescue them. When leaving pets home alone, keep them in areas or rooms near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.”

 

Additional advice included affixing a pet alert window cling and writing down the number of pets inside a home and attaching the static cling to a front window. “This critical information saves rescuers time locating your pets,” the website extract read. “Keep the number of pets listed updated.”

 

As summer approaches, residents are also reminded that it is cruel to harness dogs with heavy metal chains which are not only uncomfortable but can burn dogs since metal can reach extremely hot temperatures, as can sidewalk paving which can burn their paws. According to the Humane Society of the United States, collars should be comfortable and fitted properly; choke chains should never be used, according to the Society. Also, keeping an animal tethered for long periods, or during extreme weather and disasters is also never acceptable. Visit The Red Cross website for more information on pet safety.