{"id":116509,"date":"2026-01-29T18:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/116509\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T18:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:19:26","slug":"man-stealing-stove-sparked-deadly-bronx-high-rise-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/116509\/","title":{"rendered":"Man stealing stove sparked deadly Bronx high-rise explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A homeless man with a rap sheet stretching back decades was charged Wednesday in connection with Saturday morning\u2019s deadly fire and explosion at a high-rise in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Samuel Calderon, 55, faces charges of murder, manslaughter, assault, burglary, petit larceny, criminal contempt and harassment in connection with the fiery blast at the Boston Secor Houses in Eastchester just after midnight Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

According to authorities, Calderon broke into his ex-girlfriend\u2019s apartment to steal a gas stove\u2014but he ruptured a gas line in the process, filling the building with natural gas and sparking the explosion. Neighbors described hearing a boom and feeling a vibration as the blast tore through the upper floors of 3475 Bivona St., a 17-story residential high-rise.<\/p>\n

\"About<\/p>\n

About 300 residents have been displaced by the fire.<\/p>\n

Photo credit Marla Diamond<\/p>\n

The blast killed 60-year-old Ronald McCallister, a resident of the building. More than a dozen other people were injured, some of them critically.<\/p>\n

Additionally, about 300 residents are now displaced after a full vacate order was issued for the building. It took over 200 firefighters hours to get the fire under control.<\/p>\n

One resident said she was glad they made an arrest, but she said there\u2019s \u201ca bigger concern about security\u201d at the housing complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo these units are newly renovated,\u201d she said. \u201cHow was a homeless person able to get into an apartment and detach a stove?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A full vacate order was issued for the entire building.<\/p>\n

Photo credit Marla Diamond<\/p>\n

Andy, who lives at the complex, called the whole situation ridiculous, and said the blast \u201cwoke me up out of my sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s all new appliances inside of these buildings, so I\u2019m sure he saw the opportunity\u2014and obviously dire consequences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Levonette Demitro said her friends are now homeless and residents’ lives have been upended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of messed up looking at everything that all the innocent people have to deal with, just because he wanted to take a stove,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Demitro also raised the issue of security, saying the doors are never locked. \u201cAnybody can come in. We have another homeless guy who sleeps in my building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Calderon has more than two dozen arrests going back to the 1980s, including for burglary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A homeless man with a rap sheet stretching back decades was charged Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-116509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-the-bronx","13":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","14":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}