The FDNY is investigating the cause of a fire that broke out in the basement of a three-story building in the Bronx that killed a 5-year-old boy and left three others injured Wednesday night.
FDNY personnel consisting of 12 units and 60 firefighters responded to calls regarding the fire at 4011 Barnes Ave., between East 226th Street and East 27th Street in Wakefield, at approximately 5:20 p.m. on Jan. 3, and encountered flames in the basement of the three-story building, according to FDNY.
“Units arrived in roughly three minutes and encountered fire in the basement. It was a hard stretch, tight quarters,” FDNY Deputy Chief Kenneth Scanlon said at the scene of the fire Wednesday night.
Reports indicate that first responders transported a 5-year-old boy who was found laying in a bed in the basement to Jacobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are withholding the identity of the boy pending family notification.
Two women and another child were also hospitalized with serious non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the fire, according to the FDNY. An NYPD spokesperson on Thursday morning could not say whether the hospitalized victims were related to the boy who was pronounced dead.
The fire was placed under control at 8:12 p.m., according to the FDNY.
Fire marshals are working to investigate the cause of the fire.
The tragic blaze comes a day after six people were left injured as a result of a three-alarm fire in Highbridge on Jan. 2.
