Yonkers 10th alarm equivelant fire

[sconfire]

Anyone with anymore information on this fire? No media updates as of this typing. 12 m/a FD's + FDNY 1st alarm assignment to scene. 7 buildings burning. Would like to get some p[ictures...

[sconfire]

Found the information.

[fflynn17]

From what I saw on the news, it looks huge:

By JIM FITZGERALD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
(Original publication: March 14, 2003)



YONKERS — Two people were killed and three were critically injured early this morning when a five alarm fire tore through 10 multifamily homes on a Yonkers block, police said.

The blaze began at about 1 a.m. in an old wood-frame building and quickly spread, causing three buildings to collapse, Yonkers Fire Commissioner Tony Pagano said. The fire was contained by about 7 a.m.

"The problem is, they're all old wood-frame buildings and they're only two feet apart," Pagano said.

Firefighters found a man and a woman dead in the back of one of the buildings that had been destroyed in the blaze, said Yonkers Deputy Chief George Kielb. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Three other people were in "extremely critical condition," with burns over 80 percent of their bodies, said Michael Heller, a spokesman for Jacobi Medical Center, which has a burn unit.

Two of the victims, a 23-year-old male and a 21-year-old female, remained at Jacobi, while a 16-year-old male was transferred to the New York Weill-Cornell Burn Center, Heller said.

It was not immediately known if all of the residents had been accounted for.

An estimated 100 to 150 people lived in the lowrise, multiple family apartment buildings in a lower- to middle-class neighborhood known as Nodine Hill in southwest Yonkers near the Hudson River.

Dozens of fire trucks from Yonkers, New York City and several other departments lined the streets surrounding the gutted buildings and a tangle of hoses ran up and down the streets.

Several firefighters sustained minor injuries.

Evacuated residents, originally taken to the Enrico Fermi School were relocated to Scholastic Academy School 18, after the Enrico Fermi School lost electricity. Another couple hundred area residents, also left without power, were also camping out at the school. Classes were canceled for the day.

Pagano said, "We won't know the cause for several days. ... If anyone has any information about what started this, please call us."

[R1SmokeEater]

The General Alarm job came in early this A.M.- Nodine Hill is a lower class neighborhood, with a large workload. Many of the first due Engine's jobs come in as a verbal. The area is 3-4 story old frame tenements right on top of each other which are Very densley populated. Upon arrival the original fire bldg.(a vacant) was fully involved, with extension into the occupied exposures.Companies also had to deal with many residents bailing out and badly burned,downed primary lines, and low water problems to name a few. We quickly used up all our resources (which is rare) and had to call in Mutual aid from Cities and towns in Westchester, and finally F.D.N.Y.- which sent a 1st alarm assignment.Our thanx goes out to them!
www.yfd.org

[NJFFSA16]

Fifth death from March 14 blaze
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) - The last of the badly burned victims of a
fire that roared through a Yonkers block two months ago has died,
putting the final death toll at five, all from one family.
Brian Velez, 16, died Thursday at the New York Weill-Cornell
Burn Center in Manhattan.
His parents, Pedro and Julia Elena Velez, died in the March 14
fire as they tried to escape their basement apartment on Oak
Street. Their son, Peter, and his wife, Vanessa Lugo, were badly
burned, along with Brian Velez, as they carried their 8-month-old
daughter to safety.
Lugo, 21, died March 26; Peter Velez, 22, died April 17.
The little girl, who suffered burns only on her hands, is living
with Lugo's parents.
Police said the fire began in 98 Oak St., where four people were
smoking crack and left an open fire burning. The fire quickly
spread to 96 Oak St., where the Velez family lived. Three people
have been charged with trespassing.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)