Bronx fire leaves 1 dead, 15 injured, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani says

A fire at a New York City apartment building left at least one person dead and 15 others injured, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday.

The four-alarm fire broke out on the top three floors of a 17-story building on Bivona Street in the Eastchester section of the Bronx, shortly after midnight.

The latest on the investigation

Video from the scene shows extensive damage to the building, where people also reported the smell of gas on the upper floors.

While crews were investigating, an explosion rocked the 15th and 16th floors, setting off multiple fires and briefly trapping firefighters in an elevator.

"A very, very dangerous operation for our firefighters, who performed incredibly on those upper floors, searching and protecting civilian life," FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said.

Mamdani said FDNY and EMS remained at the site to manage fire suppression and building conditions after all residents were evacuated.

"Utilities in the building have been shut down and all 148 apartments have been vacated," the mayor said.

Mamdani posted on social media a picture from a reception center at a nearby school for people impacted by the explosion.

The mayor said city agencies were working closely with the Red Cross to support displaced residents, adding that searches, inspections and utility restoration were ongoing.

"I visited residents there this morning and, as you can imagine, this has been a deeply frightening and devastating morning for them," Mamdani said. "Our city will stand by them and do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet."

The mayor encouraged people to avoid the area and be prepared for heavy traffic near the scene amid a heavy presence of first responders.

The identity of the person who died has not yet been released. At least one victim was last reported to be in critical condition.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, the mayor said.

"I thought it was an earthquake"

Residents were standing right outside of the gates of the building later Saturday, figuring out if and when they can come back in and grab essentials they left behind.

"I thought it was an earthquake because my building shook," Sonia Torres said. "I never had experienced this in my life."

In an instant, Torres and her neighbors had to sprint out with whatever they could.

"When I looked up at the building, I saw flames coming down like it was fire falling from the sky," resident Ummy Roufai said.

"Somebody was actually on the roof and those people saying, 'Help us. We can't get down,'" Marquis Carpentier added.

The back of the building was left charred and full of icicles after the overnight response. Nearly 40-year resident and city employee Dolores Martinez said she was supposed to work through the upcoming snowstorm.

"I can't go. I can't, I gotta be here with my family, my kids," she said.

Residents were left mourning the loss of their beloved neighbor and thinking about what's next as they anticipate Sunday's expected snowfall.

"I just feel like it's terrible timing because so many people are displaced before the big storm and like ... where are they gonna go?" Roufai said.

"Right now, we're just in shock. We're just trying to figure out what happened, how we're gonna get past this," Carpentier added.