08/05/2026
Just before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, the FDNY responded to reports of an explosion at 374 East 209th Street in the Bronx. Units arrived within three minutes and encountered heavy fire, with flames blowing out of multiple windows of the five-story building. Members entered the building and were met with an extremely heavy fire condition on the second floor.
“There was some sort of explosion. It blew out window frames, it blew some of them across the street, and when our members got up to the second floor, some of the apartment doors had been blown off their hinges,” Chief of Department John Esposito said. “This makes it very difficult to confine the fire while we’re also conducting searches. It was a very unusual and an extremely dangerous position for our firefighters.”
The fire eventually spread to three floors, and members were removed from the building due to a collapse on the third floor. More than 300 fire and EMS members responded to the fire, which reached a 5th-alarm assignment.
There were a total of 11 injuries—seven civilians and four firefighters.
“We had multiple people who needed to be rescued out of the building. Our FDNY firefighters and EMS members did an extraordinary job—there were multiple examples of heroism,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said. “The firefighters were rescuing people from the building and EMS was providing lifesaving treatment right on the scene, saving multiple lives.”
FDNY units will maintain a watch on the fire throughout Wednesday evening. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
