More than 250 residents of a Bronx apartment building — including 57 children — were burned out of their homes and seven people were injured as a massive five-alarm blaze buffeted by icy winds tore through the top of the six-story structure early Friday, FDNY officials said.
The fire broke out on the top floor of the Mayfair Apartments on Wallace Ave. near Arnow Ave. at about 1:40 a.m. and quickly spread to the cockloft — the crawlspace between the ceilings of the top floor apartments and the roof, officials said.
“It was a heavy fire that destroyed apartments on the top floor and burned through the roof,” FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said during a Friday morning press conference at the scene with Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker and Mayor Adams. “The fire had too much headway. It was an extremely dangerous fire for our firefighters.”
More than 250 firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics responded to the fire, FDNY officials said. Images shared by the FDNY showed bright pockets of orange flames breaking through the roof of the 200-foot-long building.
Firefighters fought the blaze through the night and into the morning. Five firefighters and a resident suffered minor injuries and were taken to area hospitals. One resident was treated at the scene, the FDNY said.
Fire marshals were trying to determine what sparked the blaze. The damage to the building was so severe, marshals still hadn’t been able to get into the building to find the fire’s point of origin by Friday afternoon, FDNY sources said.
“This was very difficult for firefighters to fight,” Tucker said. “Thank God there were no serious injuries. That’s a miracle. This was a very, very large fire, wind-driven.”
Jarixa Guzman, 31, her husband and four children fled after the lights suddenly went out in their apartment and they heard the fire crackling before flames burst their way into the unit.
“I heard the crackling in between the walls,” said Guzman. “I told [my husband], ‘go wake up the kids. There’s a fire. There’s a fire.’ He’s like, ‘Where, I don’t see it?’ And then it started coming down from the light fixtures.”
Guzman’s terrified children, ages 6, 8, 10 and 12, scrambled to gather their cats and game systems before fleeing — but weren’t able to save all their pets.
“We grabbed two of the kittens. The mother [cat] just went back in [to the apartment], and then we ended up losing one of [the kittens],” Guzman said. “My kids are hysterical.”
The ASPCA said while “many pets remain missing” both the ASPCA and the Animal Care Centers of NYC were “on standby to conduct animal search and rescue and provide additional support as needed” and providing pet food and supplies as well as emergency boarding and veterinary care.
By Friday afternoon nearly 100 households from the Mayfair Apartments, which included nearly 200 adults and 57 children, had come to nearby P.S. 76 seeking help.
More than 50 of the households applied for emergency shelter, Red Cross officials said.
“We’ll provide emergency assistance, including lodging, connection to the resources that the families need as they plan their next steps in recovering from this disaster,” American Red Cross of Greater New York CEO Doreen Thomann-Howe said Friday.
Julie Scott-Fernandez, 43, her daughter and granddaughter were among the families seeking shelter at P.S. 76 and hoping they could get back into their building to gather their possessions.
“So the entire sixth floor in the building is done. The fifth floor is also done. The fourth floor is filled with smoke and water, so we’re flooded, and they’re not letting us back in the building at all,” said Scott-Fernandez.
“I’m really praying, hoping and praying that we’ll be able to salvage some things, because I do have all my valuables, and I didn’t even grab my purse. They said the marshal has to deem it safe for us before we can get back in. So we’re just waiting,” Scott-Fernandez added.
“All my stuff is a total loss,” said resident Ty Holmes, 36, who works at Madison Square Garden. “I just moved into this apartment, maybe three or four months ago … All I have is what I have on my back. I just bought a new 65-inch TV, which was an accomplishment. Like, this is my first official apartment of my own. All my identification, everything is in there.”
Residents told reporters lack of heat was a chronic problem in the building and some tenants have resorted to using their ovens and space heaters to keep warm, which could have sparked the fire.
Adams said Friday morning that city officials were unaware about any heat complaints in the building.
“We are going to have DOB and other city agencies look into if there’s a chronic condition,” he said. “We’re going to look at if there are 311 calls that were made … and we’re going to find out what the cause of this fire is.”
The city Department of Buildings has a stop work order on the building following a 2019 violation in which debris was found falling from the facade, according to city records.
The DOB has received 61 complaints about the building, mostly about the condition of the elevator, which residents said continually breaks down.
The most recent complaints were filed last February, city records show.
With Cayla Bamberger
