Firefighters battled a four alarm fire for two hours in Kingsbridge of the Bronx at 3422 Dekalb Avenue on Thursday morning.
Units from the 15th Battalion arrived to find heavy fire on a top floor apartment of a six story non fireproof multiple dwelling just before 6 a.m. The fire left two people and a firefighter with minor injuries.
The fire extended throughout the cockloft. Over a hundred forty firefighters used a trench cut to cut off the spread of the heavy fire in the building.
“I am heartbroken, we just moved from North Carolina, we lost everything in boxes,” Resident George PickKaneo said.
Firefighters deployed an aggressive interior attack using the cockloft nozzle and four other hoses to knock down the main body of fire. Firefighters performed a trench cut using saws to open up the roof and pull the ceiling.
“The firefighters have been working very hard to try and put this out, when I came out of the building the smoke cloud was dark black and heavy,” said another resident, Bridgette Delego.
Firefighters stamina was spent, they were drinking water while holding their knees at the RAC unit. Multiple firefighters were covered in installation after pulling ceilings down.
The fire was placed under control at 8:05 a.m. Fire Marshals will investigate the cause and origin of the blaze. At this time there is no cause.
