A massive, four-alarm fire tore through a Bronx apartment building on Wednesday night, displacing dozens of residents who were forced to leave behind their belongings and don’t know when they will be able to return.
The blaze started around 6:19 p.m. in a building on Heath Ave. near W. 230th St., FDNY officials said. In total, 39 residents were displaced. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries while bringing the fire under control, according to FDNY.
As smoke eaters went door to door checking to ensure all the residents had exited safely, they made an unsettling discovery — a secret drug lab in an apartment on the third floor, sources said.
The apparent drug lab is not related to the fire, which started on the fourth floor, according to FDNY officials.
Jocelina Molina, 52, returned home from work to her fourth-floor apartment Wednesday evening only to have to evacuate minutes later.
“Like 15 minutes after I got home, my neighbor — she lives across [from] my apartment — she came out with the baby, and she said to me that she called 911, the firefighters were coming,” Molina said. “She was telling me, like, what happened is that through the bulbs, through the light, there was smoke coming out. So also she said in through the walls, too, like in the ceiling, there was a lot of smoke coming out,” she added.
Molina, her husband and children watched firefighters break through their apartment via their security cameras. Although they did not see many flames reach their apartment, the windows were destroyed, Molina said.
They and the other fire-displaced residents have been put up by the Red Cross in a hotel for the last two nights. On Friday residents were still unsure when they would be able to return home.
“They don’t allow us to go inside because they say that it’s not safe, and [the] roof can fall, you know. And we’re here waiting,” Molina said. “Wednesday night we slept in a hotel. Last night, too. And now, today, we are figuring out, like, where we’re gonna sleep today, too. So it’s difficult. The only thing that I could, like, grab was my coat and my phone, and that’s it, you know. But we have, you know, friends and family that have helped us, and we are grateful we are alive.”
Molina and her family said that the building has a history of electrical issues that they believe to be source of the fire, a claim echoed by the building’s superintendent.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
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