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Bronx Blaze Destroys Apartments, Leaves Three Firefighters Hurt

By DNAinfo Staff on January 9, 2012 12:55pm

A fire broke out in a building in the High Bridge section of the Bronx, officials said.
A fire broke out in a building in the High Bridge section of the Bronx, officials said.
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DNAinfo/Jon Schuppe

By Trevor Kapp

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

BRONX — A fire swept through a Bronx building early Monday, damaging several apartments and injuring three firefighters, officials said.

The blaze began about 1 a.m. at 6 E. 167th St., in High Bridge, fire officials said.

Over 100 firefighters worked for about an hour to put out the blaze, officials said.

Segundo Lucero, who lives a floor below the apartment where the fire started, said his home suffered extensive damage to the ceiling in the living room.

He said he raced out of the building with his wife and three children.

''The boys were crying,'' Lucero, 43, said of his sons, who are 13 and 5. ''Everyone was screaming, 'Fire, fire.' Everyone was scared.''

Lucero's wife, who declined to give her name, said their 13-year-old was convinced they wouldn't escape.

''He was screaming, 'Mommy, mommy, we're gonna die, we're gonna die,''' she said.

Neighbors said the apartment where the fire broke out had clothing strewn through its hallways and in the bedroom, making it more difficult for the firefighters to extinguish it.

The injured firefighters were taken to Lincoln Hospital, officials said. They were not seriously hurt.

The cause is still under investigation