Firefighters were working to contain a large blaze that broke out at an apartment building in the Bronx early Friday, injuring at least seven people and displacing many others, the Fire Department said.
About 250 firefighters and emergency medical responders rushed to the six-story residential building on Wallace Avenue near Arnow Avenue after a fire was reported 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 of the 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.
Seven people were injured, including 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 flames appeared in videos to have spread to several neighboring buildings.
The cause of the fire was under investigation, officials said.
The Red Cross was at the scene helping residents that were displaced by the fire, and a temporary shelter had been set up at the Bennington School on Adee Avenue nearby. Doreen Thomann-Howe, the chief executive of the American Red Cross Greater New York Region, said during the news conference that 66 families had already registered to receive assistance, including lodging. She said she expected that number to increase.
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. Taverna, 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 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.
Vanessa L. Gibson, the Bronx borough president, said she was “so grateful” there had been no fatalities from the fire.
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.
