Large Blaze Ravages Bronx Apartment Building, Leaving Many Displaced

Dozens of families were looking for shelter after a large fire broke out at an apartment building in the Bronx early Friday, injuring at least seven people, the Fire Department said. There were no fatalities or life-threatening injuries, according to officials.

The Red Cross was at the scene helping residents who were displaced, and a temporary shelter had been set up nearby at the Bennington School on Adee Avenue. The organization provided food throughout the day and was working to connect people with temporary lodging in hotels, said Frederic Klein, a spokesman.

By Friday afternoon, 254 people from 93 households had registered to receive help, according to the Red Cross, including more than 55 households who needed lodging.

“Not everybody will register with us if they have the ability to recover on their own,” Mr. Klein said.

In the short term, he said, people would be put in hotels, where they would meet with a caseworker who could help them transition into the city’s shelter system. The Red Cross was also working to provide people with mental health support and to help them replace any prescription medications that they couldn’t retrieve from their homes.

Earlier on Friday, about 250 firefighters and emergency medical workers rushed to the six-story residential building on Wallace Avenue near Arnow Avenue after a fire was reported there just before 2 a.m., the Fire Department said. The blaze on the top floor was elevated to a five-alarm fire about an hour later, it said.

Several dozen firefighters were still gathered outside the building at around 10 a.m. Many windows on the top floor were blown out and some had shards of glass hanging in place that resembled jagged teeth. Smoke continued to climb from the building as a firefighter on a ladder hosed the roof.

The fire was brought under control shortly before 2 p.m., according to fire officials.

The seven people who were injured included five firefighters, the department said in an email. One person was treated at the scene but declined to be taken to a hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Police Department said earlier that some people had suffered smoke inhalation injuries.

Robert S. Tucker, the fire commissioner, said during a news conference that it was a miracle that there had been no serious injuries or fatalities. Officials said that all of the apartments on the building’s top floor were destroyed.

Firefighters blasted water at the smoke and flames pouring out of the upper floors and roof, according to videos posted online by the Fire Department and television news outlets. Heavy winds had fueled the blaze, the department said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, officials said.

Juan Cabrera and his family were among those seeking help at the Bennington School. Mr. Cabrera said that he and his family had not heard a fire alarm but had instead heard glass breaking as residents climbed out of windows. He said he had also heard people race across the hall one flight above him while others screamed “Get out!”

Mr. Cabrera, 47, said he had smelled smoke and woke up his daughter, Rose, 13. He and his wife, Aurora Tavera, grabbed their IDs, passports and cellphones, and the family left the building.

“I felt desperate,” Ms. Tavera, 32, said.

“Thank God we are still alive,” said Mr. Cabrera, who works as a school aide and custodian and has lived in the building for five years. “The material stuff you can get back, but we have our family,” he said.

Louis Montalvo, 55, was also among those seeking help. He said firefighters banged on his door at around 3 a.m. and that he had smelled smoke.

“I am grateful to be around,” Mr. Montalvo said, as he stood outside of the temporary shelter. He was still wearing his felt pajama pants, which had snowmen printed on them.

Luz Gonzalez, 65, said a fireman had brought her down from her apartment. She said that she had chronic neuropathy, diabetes and lung disease.

“Thank God I got out because if not, I would be dead,” she said, adding that there was a lot of smoke. Now, she said, she was trying to get her prescription medications and would be staying with her daughter. Those living arrangements were not a viable long-term solution, she said, but she was not sure where to go next.

The last major apartment fire in the Bronx occurred in 2022, and resulted in 17 deaths, which experts said were entirely preventable. Self-closing doors in the building did not work properly, allowing smoke to escape the apartment where the fire started and rapidly fill the structure’s 19 stories.

Eryn Davis contributed reporting.