![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-18-235811.png\")
<\/a>FLAMES BURST OUT of a fifth floor apartment window at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0Image courtesy of the Citizens\u2019 App<\/p>\n
Thirteen people were reported injured following a residential, afternoon fire in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, [St. Patrick\u2019s Day] in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx, prompting Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and the FDNY to launch a further series of fire education and safety workshops across the borough.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fire department officials said they received a call at 2.58 p.m. on Tuesday for a reported fire on the third floor of a multiple dwelling [made up of six buildings] located at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue between West 234th\u00a0Street and West 236th Street.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
FLAMES FROM A residential fire are seen bursting from a fifth-floor apartment of a residential building at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0 Video courtesy of a local resident<\/p>\n
They said a second alarm was raised at 3.06 p.m. and 46 units comprising 141 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene. Large flames and thick gray smoke were seen bursting out of the building in several videos recorded by residents who had evacuated the building and gathered on the street below in shock. The day itself, was quite windy, which may have exacerbated the situation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
FDNY officials said thirteen civilians incurred minor injuries and were transported to area hospitals for treatment.\u00a0 They said no additional information was available regarding their condition or their descriptions. Some media outlets reported that there were some children among the injured. FDNY officials said the blaze was brought under control at 4.11 p.m.<\/p>\n
Norwood News spoke to resident, Ira Stelps, and asked him if he could describe what had happened. \u201cI was inside the building. I\u2019m on the fifth floor and\u00a0 I was just hanging out, sending messages to a friend and I suddenly smelled smoke, but you don\u2019t know. It was just a hint at that time so I go into my bedroom and I see the smoke coming through the door, so I then immediately grabbed my keys and my wallet and left,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Asked if he had been alone, he said he had been. \u201cAfter that, I was just outside watching it like everybody else,\u201d Stelps said. Asked if he had come down the fire escape, he said, \u201cNo, through the front door. It [the fire] was on the other side of the building from where I live. I live in the D section. It was in the C section.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he knew which floor the fire had started on, Stelps said, \u201cFrom the fourth floor from what I see but they had\u2026.. The floor below on the third and the floor above on the fifth, they had to have been affected so you see all those windows knocked out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Asked if the fire was mainly on the exterior side facing Kingsbridge Avenue as opposed to the interior courtyard side of the building structure, he said, \u201cThe firefighters were working from both ends.\u201d Burned out windows were later seen both on the courtyard interior side as well as on the exterior side.<\/p>\n Asked if it had been scary, Stelps said, \u201cYeah, you never know because you\u2019re relaxed one day and you\u2019re not worried about anything, and it doesn\u2019t have to be in your apartment. It could be somebody right next door to you or below you, and then your life changes but hopefully my apartment is fine except for maybe some residual smoke I might have to clean off the walls.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Norwood News asked Stelps if there had been a lot of smoke as he was exiting. He said not so much in his section. \u201cIn my apartment, there was smoke coming because they [different building sections] attach,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a two-door between each section since we don\u2019t have a fire escape so the smoke was coming in through that door.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if fire evacuation practice drills were ever held in the building, Stelps said, \u201cNo,\u201d adding that there was information in the apartment that explained what to do in the event of a fire. He added, \u201cIn all honesty, it\u2019s like if you\u2019re on an airplane that\u2019s going down and you\u2019re reflecting back on the\u2026[safety instructions].\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Some other residents who said they were at work when the fire broke out were seen hurrying back to check on their apartments and belongings.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Inside the building, we spoke to a young female resident estimated to be around 20 and asked if she could explain what had happened from her perspective. Speaking in Spanish, she said, \u201cI can\u2019t really say much because I was sleeping.\u201d She said her sister, who was under 18, woke her up. Her sister then said she heard shouts from neighbors and noticed a lot of smoke.<\/p>\n \u201cA LOT of smoke,\u201d she said. \u201cThe corridor was filled with smoke. We saw the lady next door shouting and we said we better go downstairs.\u201d Asked if the next-door neighbor had been trapped inside her apartment, the sister said, \u201cNo, she had already gone down.\u201d\u00a0 Asked if they had been scared, they nodded.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Later, outside the building, we also spoke to another male resident, Victor Fernandez, who talked about an elderly female resident who was in her nineties who lived alone and who had been taken to hospital following the fire. He said he had been talking to her the day before. Asked if she had any help. \u201cYeah, she has a home attendant,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know if the home attendant came today or what happened. I\u2019m not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n We asked if he could explain what happened from his perspective. \u201cFrom what I saw, I thought it was a fire in a car, here on the street, because I was smelling rubber,\u201d Fernandez said, adding that at that point he was inside his apartment. \u201cBut then, I saw the commotion and I looked up and I saw it was a fire in the building so I came outside to see.\u201d Asked if he saw the flames, he said, \u201cActually, no, I saw the smoke because I was on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Fernandez said later he saw the flames from the Kingsbridge Avenue side and said it was crazy. He said there hadn\u2019t been a lot of smoke on his side on the first floor. \u201cFrom what I heard, a lot of people couldn\u2019t come out because of the smoke and had to go via the fire escape.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Asked if the older woman had been hurt, Fernandez said, \u201cNo, I think she had some smoke inhalation, and she was a little red. I don\u2019t know if it was from the fire or what. Could have been her [blood] pressure.\u201d We asked if there were ever any fire evacuation drills, and he said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n We also asked if there were a lot of older people living in the building and Fernandez said now, there were. Asked if it was about half of the residents, he said, \u201cWell, since the pandemic, it\u2019s probably like a third now.\u201d Asked if there were small kids, he said, \u201cOh yeah, we have like one, two, three, I think we have like seven daycares in the building.\u201d \u00a0Fernandez continued, \u201cThat\u2019s what we were more worried about, the daycares on the fourth floor. It [the fire] was right under the daycare.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Norwood News has reached out to the Red Cross to ask about the number of people displaced following the fire and will share any feedback we receive.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n On Wednesday, March 18, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson announced that, in conjunction with the FDNY, in response to the high number of fires experienced across the borough in recent times, fire education and safety workshops would be rolled out across the borough in the weeks ahead. \u201cWe hope that you will find the time to attend one of these important workshops for you and your family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom smoke alarm demonstrations, to common causes of fires, our community is learning emergency preparedness tips on how to stay safe and ready in any situation,\u201d she added, \u201cFind a workshop that works best for you and your family. Locations are listed on our website.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>DEBRIS IS SEEN piled up in the corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>DEBRIS IS SEEN piled up in the corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>DEBRIS IS SEEN piled up in the corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>DEBRIS IS SEEN piled up in the corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>DEBRIS IS SEEN piled up in the corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>A FIREFIGHTER IS seen inside 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, after a residential fire caused extensive damage.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>RESIDENTS SWEEP WATER down the stairs from the fifth-floor corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n<\/a>DEBRIS IS SEEN piled up in the corridor after a residential fire caused extensive damage to a fifth floor apartment and corridor at 3410 Kingsbridge Avenue int he Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\u00a0
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n