Residents Displaced By 4-Alarm Apartment Building Fire In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Firefighters battled an early morning four-alarm fire at an apartment building in the Norwood section of the Bronx.
Nearly 200 firefighters responded to the blaze, which broke out around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at a building on Knox Place just a few blocks from Van Cortlandt Park.
At one point, heavy flames could be seen coming through the roof of the building, CBS2's Jim Smith reported.
The Red Cross said it was helping about three dozen displaced residents. Many were seen Wednesday morning huddling outside in the brutal cold.
"Big bang on the door, I thought it was a joke -- I thought it was like maybe somebody messing around banging on the door or something so I went to go check and it was the fire department, everybody was here and it was like, 'you've got to get out, there's a fire, get out!" one man told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "Smoke was everywhere, we're just starting running down, there were hoses everywhere. It was crazy."
The weather made fighting the fire challenging for crews as well.
"Certainly when it's this cold, below freezing, we always have the possibility of having frozen hydrants," FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Thomas Richardson said. "We did not at this fire, we didn't have any water issues but that always is a possibility and certainly the slipping hazard due to the icing conditions."
One civilian and one firefighter suffered minor injuries.
