6 People Injured When Fire Rips Through Bronx Apartment Building
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Smoke and flames engulfed a Bronx apartment Friday, trapping four people in their homes.
As CBS2's Meg Baker reported, six people – including two children and a firefighter, were injured in the fire.
The blaze broke out around 11:30 a.m. at 2144 Watson Ave., near the junction of the Cross Bronx and Bruckner expressways. A woman was in tears as she stood in a burned out apartment hours later.
'My kids were trapped," said William Rodriguez.
"We couldn't get out," added John Rodriguez.
The fire broke out in the first-floor rear apartment, sending what neighbors described as black, binding smoke up into their apartments.
"I opened my door to the apartment and there was this smoke coming in, like really fast; like pitch black," said John Rodriguez.
The smoke was so intense that John Rodriguez and his mother, sister and baby nephew could not find their way out.
"We were practically trapped inside the bedroom," he said.
The only exit was the window.
"We were taken out of the top floor on a ladder in the fire trucks," John Rodriguez said.
He described holding the window open for his family.
"My sister went down first with the baby in her arms," he said.
John Rodriguez's sister, Janine, has asthma. As of 6 p.m., she was still in the hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, and her baby was also being treated.
Maureen Walsh was not home at the time the fire broke out in her rear apartment. She said her child's father was home alone watching TV at the time.
"I came home and I smelled the worst smell coming up the block, and Michael runs out, and he's like, 'Mo!' – my name's Maureen – 'Mo! Come down here! There's a fire in our house!'" Walsh said.
Four families were displaced Friday night. All said they were glad that the fire broke out when it did, and many were already at work or school.
The FDNY said the cause of the fire was under investigation.