{"id":31545,"date":"2025-11-07T04:12:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T04:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/31545\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T04:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T04:12:45","slug":"fire-that-led-to-bronx-car-explosion-sparked-by-tossed-cigarette-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/31545\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire that led to Bronx car explosion sparked by tossed cigarette, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two FDNY firefighters remain hospitalized after a massive car explosion in the Bronx on Wednesday night<\/a>, and fire officials say it all started with a cigarette.<\/p>\n

Crews were sent to Westchester Avenue in Longwood on Wednesday evening for reports of garbage, debris and a car on fire. Shortly after they arrived, there was a large explosion, injuring seven firefighters.<\/p>\n

“FDNY Fire Marshals determined the fire was caused by the careless disposal of a lit cigarette. The cigarette set some nearby garbage on fire. The fire then spread to a vehicle parked close by, igniting its gas tank and causing a major explosion,” FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said in a video posted to X Thursday evening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Esposito reminded New Yorkers to properly extinguish cigarettes before throwing them out.<\/p>\n

Video shows lit cigarette being discarded on sidewalk<\/p>\n

Surveillance video appears to show<\/a> someone toss a lit cigarette onto the sidewalk. You can see the glow as it rolls or is blown towards the street, then disappears into mounds of trash.<\/p>\n

A short time later, a small fire can be seen in the same area, and someone approaches, appearing to try to put it out.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

Surveillance video from Nov. 5, 2025, appears to show someone toss a lit cigarette onto a sidewalk in the Bronx. A short time later, trash and cars caught fire, and there was a large explosion.<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

Firefighters then arrived on the scene, and soon after, the explosion happened.<\/p>\n

“The trash just kind of piled up”<\/p>\n

Witnesses say firefighters were blown backwards in the blast, and one could be seen on all fours in the street.<\/p>\n

“When the fire department came in, they came over here, and I say a few seconds after that, the big explosion,” said Jose Rojas, a witness who called 911. “You see the firemen go to the side of the building.”<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

Seven New York City firefighters were injured in an explosion in the Bronx on Nov. 5, 2025, fire officials say.<\/p>\n

Photo provided<\/p>\n

Two firefighters remain in the hospital and are in stable condition, the FDNY says.<\/p>\n

The vehicle that exploded was cleared from the scene Thursday morning, presumably for fire marshals to investigate. Residents in the area say the presence of trash is easier to explain.<\/p>\n

“Just bad timing with the placement of the trash. Election Day, sanitation couldn’t come get it, so the trash just kind of piled up,” said Brian Rivera, who works nearby. <\/p>\n

On social media Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams called the explosion “an example of the dangers our first responders face every day.”<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two FDNY firefighters remain hospitalized after a massive car explosion in the Bronx on Wednesday night, and fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-31545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31545","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=31545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}