Six Injured In Two-Alarm Bronx Fire

NY1 News 1/22/09

Six people were injured today in a two-alarm Bronx house fire.

The fire started around 12:45 p.m. at the second and third floors of a building the corner of North Street and Jerome Avenue, according to the New York City Fire Department. The flames were under control about an hour later.

Fire officials say four residents and two firemen were taken to area hospitals in serious but stable condition.

"Fire was venting out of the second floor from three windows, it was extending to the third floor," said FDNY Deputy Chief Kevin Scanlon. "There was smoke everywhere, four people had already jumped out of the building."

"I ran out of the building. It started on the second floor where we live," said a resident. "So the second floor was on fire and the man yelled and knocked on the door and said it was a fire so we ran out but the people at the top had to jump out of the windows."

Officials say the firefighters hospitalized sustained only minor injuries.

The Red Cross is putting up seven families in local hotels.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.