3-Alarm Fire Rips Through Bronx Apartment Building; Up To 20 Displaced
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An extra-alarm fire ripped through an apartment building in the Bronx Thursday evening.
The fire started around 8 p.m. in the five-story building at 955 E. 163rd St. in the Longwood section of the Bronx, the FDNY told CBS2.
The fire broke out between the top floor and the roof of a vacant unit that was under renovation, officials said.
The blaze was raised to three alarms and spread through the roof, the FDNY said. A total of 10 apartments were damaged.
Some residents lost everything in the blaze.
New Jersey resident Rosie Ruiz came to the building after her mother, Irma, saw her apartment destroyed by the fire.
"She'll be good. She's going to be with her daughters," Ruiz told CBS2's Dave Carlin. She's been here 32 years, so it's devastating for her. She lost everything."
Building resident Nancy Soto told Carlin that the fire started in a vacant apartment, and she notified firefighters they had to break down the door to unit 5F.
"I said: 'There's no one there. It's vacant. You're going to have to break down that door.' So then they said, 'Are you sure?' I said, 'I'm quite sure.' So they started breaking down the door, and sure enough, that was where the fire was at."
Between 15 and 20 people were displaced, officials said. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries fighting the blaze, officials said.
The cause of the fire was not known late Thursday.
