THE BRONX — A fire left 10 people injured and 83 homeless after it tore through a block of Fordham residences on Thursday night, officials said.
The blaze started inside a three-story home at 2086 Valentine Ave., near East 180th Street, at about 11:43 p.m. and quickly spread to nine nearby buildings, a spokesman for the FDNY said.
"I saw the fire going through the windows, the flames were huge," said Mercedes Guillermo, 31, who lives in one of the damaged buildings. "They were blowing out, fire was pouring out.
"I thank God we're alive."
Because most of the buildings were made of wood, the flames spread quickly. The fire reached six-alarm status and took nearly 200 firefighters more than three hours to battle before being deemed under control at 3:04 a.m., officials said.
"These are old, wood buildings," said Battalion Chief Jim Manning. "It's the nature, once you get an open fire like this, that it's difficult to stop."
Six firefighters and four residents suffered minor injuries, the FDNY said.
"It is a miracle there weren't any more severe injuries," Manning said.
The Red Cross responded to the scene and said they had registered 29 displaced families by Friday morning. A reception center was set up at 2121 Washington Ave.
On Friday morning, firefighters were still on the scene putting water on the buildings to prevent fire from re-igniting, Manning said.
"We're just hitting some pockets of smoldering area," he said. "We're just taking protocol to prevent any rekindle."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, fire officials said.
Officials will demolish 2086 Valentine Ave. and four adjacent buildings tomorrow due to the extent of the damage, police said.
An additional five buildings will be evacuated as a precautionary measure, bringing the total number of displaced people to 89, according to the NYPD.
