Fire at Bronx auto body shop spreads to neighboring home, displacing families

Several families have been displaced after a massive fire spread from a Bronx auto body shop to neighboring homes.

The flames broke out shortly before 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the business on the corner of Bronx River and Rosedale avenues.

4 firefighters injured battling Bronx blaze

Crews arrived within a few minutes, but the fire quickly grew from three alarms to a five-alarm blaze and spread to two adjacent homes on Rosedale Avenue. Roughly 200 first responders were sent to the scene.

Firefighters spent hours dousing the building with water as thick black smoke billowed into the air, prompting officials to urge neighbors to close their windows.

"The air, it was really hard to breathe because I live right there in Parkchester, so I could smell it from my house," neighbor Maritza Bermudez said.

The fire was finally brought under control just before 2:30 p.m. Four firefighters were taken to area hospitals to be treated for minor injuries.

Vacate orders issued, displacing about a dozen residents

The city Department of Buildings said the auto body shop sustained extensive fire damage, including a collapsed and compromised roof. The department issued full vacate orders for the shop and both neighboring homes.

At least four families lived in the two homes, including Yasmyn Reyes and her four children, all under the age of 6. Reyes said she was in the process of moving, but she lost everything.

"It's like everything is wet, everything is smoky," she said. "Like the clothes that I have in my back, that's the only thing I could grab."

The Red Cross said they are assisting a total of five adults and seven children with emergency lodging and financial aid.

Jose Peralta had just dropped off his new car at the auto body shop so the interior fabric could be replaced with leather. Workers had told him it would only take two or three hours, but by the time Peralta returned, the building was in flames.

"Everything inside there is gone. My CRV is gone," he said. "I hope the insurance or whatever will take care of this matter."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

A firefighter died Saturday in Brooklyn after suffering a medical episode at a fire in East Flatbush. Patrick Brady went into cardiac arrest while on the roof of the burning building, the FDNY said. 

Another fire earlier in the day left nine people hurt at an apartment building in Washington Heights, Manhattan.