Fire on Gun Hill Road and Rochambeau; Minor Injuries to 3 Residents, 3 Firefighters

Fire marshals strap on their boots to investigate a Norwood fire that may leave several families homeless temporarily. (Photo by Alex Kratz)

At about 9:45 a.m. this morning, Ashley Santiago looked out the window of her apartment on the corner of Gun Hill Road and Rochambeau Avenue and saw fire raining down from the sky.

"My mom told me, 'Look, there's fire coming down from the sky,'" she said, two hours later.

Dressed in shorts and a tank top, the 18-year-old grabbed her wallet, cell phone and keys and ran out of the building, 3504 Rochambeau Ave., along with the her mother, aunt and two dogs. On the way out, one of the dogs, Nena, a Rottweiler-Pit Bull mix, ran back up the stairs, forcing Santiago to run after her and corral her before she made it up to the fifth floor where a fire had engulfed a corner apartment.

Santiago's family and every other resident, including two teenagers who were in the apartment where the fire erupted, made it out of the building in plenty of time, but damage from the fire may leave several families homeless, at least temporarily.

Long Time Resident Killed in Decatur Blaze

Fire Marshal's continue to investigate the source
of the Decatur Avenue fire that
 killed a long time resident. (Photo by David Greene)

By David Greene

A Saturday afternoon fire on the top floor of a five-story Decatur Avenue building in Norwood claimed the life of a 37-year-old resident Chris Podesta who died of smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Press officers for the fire and police departments could not confirm the death by press time, but neighbors confirmed that it was Podesta who had died in the fire.

One resident of the block, who declined to give his name for this article, stood in shock after firefighters removed his friend Podesta from the building.

"They brought him out and he was all full of smoke and they were performing CPR on him,” the resident said.

14 Pit Bulls Saved From Concourse Blaze

By DAVID GREENE

A worker with Animal Care and Control of New York removes one of 14 pit bulls from a Grand Concourse apartment yesterday. (Photos by David Greene)

Firefighters battling a blaze on the Grand Concourse in Fordham Heights rescued 14 pit bulls that had apparently been living in the sixth-floor apartment. 

Authorities say the fire broke out on the top floor of 2186 Grand Concourse, at just before 3 p.m. on Monday, March 7. Witnesses say some of the dogs were overcome by the smoke and firemen gave several of the animals oxygen. 

Animal Care and Control of New York City reported removing a total of 14 dogs: nine adults, 1 pup and four newborns. An official stated that just one dog was injured in an apparent accident that occurred as the animal was being transported out of the building. That dog suffered a small gash on his noise, but the injury was not serious. 

Building super Brian Rivic was boarding up the heavily damaged apartment. He said the dogs' owner was apparently at work when the fire happened. 

"He has a lot of dogs but he takes care of them," Rivic said of the still-unidentified owner, adding, "He makes a few trips, he walks them in the morning and in the afternoon."

Neighbor Umberto Portuondo, who lives downstairs, said he was aware of the dogs.

Fire Claims Life of 'Elegant and Fashionable' Former School Teacher (Updated)

[Correction: In the original post, we mistakenly put in the wrong address. The error has been corrected. Mary Mullen lived at 2545 Valentine Ave.]

By Lulaine Compere

The building Mary Mullen called home and died in. (L. Comprere)

Former school teacher and longtime northwest Bronx resident Mary Mullen died on Monday morning when a fire confined to her third floor apartment on Valentine Avenue ended her life. She was 82 years old.

[Update: the DOE says Mullen taught at PS 5 in Port Morris and retired in 1995.]

“It’s the end of an era,” said Maria Shkreli, owner of the building. “She has been here for about 30 years and whenever I look at old pictures of the building I think of her and the neighborhood around that time.”

A spokesman for the fire department said they were still investigating the cause of the fire that broke out around 2 a.m. in Mullen’s apartment at 2545 Valentine Ave., on the corner of 192nd Street. It took about half an hour for 60 firefighters to end the blaze and no one else was injured, the spokesman said.

From the outside, the white brick building does not reveal any fire damage, but once inside the burnt smell is pungent and unmistakable.

According to the building manager of 20 years, Maria Pimentel, Mullen kept to herself and was very religious.

“Mary had a stroke and nobody knew or would have know if it wasn’t for the mail piling up and the fact she had the stroke at the diner [Louie’s Dale on 231st Street] where she used to eat,” said Pimentel, who added that Mullen was a devout catholic who regularly attended St. Philip Neri Church on the Grand Concourse.

Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 22

A four-alarm fire that forced the evacuation of a building on the Grand Concourse yesterday was caused by a burnt batch of Christmas cookies, according to a neighbor.

Bronx teenager Justin Tavarez, 19, who was charged with a hate crime this weekend after a late night scuffle in a diner, told friends he was provoked by the victim, who was taunting him over a girl.  Tavarez allegedly smashed a plate over the head of a 42-year-old man while making racial comments, according to police.

John Martinez, the man accused of robbing a number of women in Co-op City and Manhattan while wielding an ice pick, pleaded not guilty yesterday.

The recently indicted Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., submitted paperwork earlier this month to cash in on his $9,000 a year state pension.

A new bill introduced in Congress this week would provide federal funding for the removal of PCBs, a dangerous construction material, from the city's public schools. This summer, tests found elevated levels of the chemical in three schools, including PS 178 in Co-op City.

A Bronx woman was sentenced to 25 years to life yesterday in the Bronx Supreme Court for the 2003 murder of a 91-year-old woman.

A city sanitation worker was struck by a car and killed yesterday while crossing the street in Castle Hill. Angel Roldan, 39, worked with the Sanitation Department for 11 years; he leaves behind a wife and two children.

The suspected Bronx church burglar, who was busted by police last weekend, says he targeted the houses of worship because he was angry over pedophile-priest scandals. Nathaniel Linden, 51, is believed to be responsible for a string of church break-ins over the last month.

More Bronxites, and residents across the city, are opting to worship from their homes instead of a traditional church, according to ABC.

A&P, the supermarket chain which owns Pathmark, Food Emporium and Waldbaum's, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. The future of all these stores is uncertain, though the company says it's refinancing and hopes to turn things around over the next year.

Bronx-born actor Steve Landesberg, known for his role on the long-running sitcom “Barney Miller,” died in Los Angeles Monday from colon cancer. He was 74.

Bronx Weekend News Roundup, Nov. 29

Police are searching for a small group of teens who were "just screwing around" prior to a massive fire in the Bronx's Mt. Eden neighborhood on Saturday night. The fire, at 131 E. 169th St., killed at least one man and left 31 people homeless. The Red Cross set up a temporary shelter for the displaced residents nearby at PS 64.

A handful of churches and at least one Catholic school in the north Bronx have been burglarized in recent weeks. One Bronxite told NY1: "I know times are hard, but a church? Some things have to be sacred."

On one day in January, a debt-collection company sued 110 people in Bronx County Civil Court for not paying their bills on time. It's part of a nationwide surge in lawsuits filed by debt collectors who are buying up souring loans on the cheap.

A Bronx firefighter was found dead at the Engine 72 firehouse in Throgs Neck.

One student's report card mix-up illustrates a grading system problem at Eximius College Preparatory Academy in Morrisania. The student received a report card from the academy even though he longer attended classes there.

An off-duty cop was charged with drunk driving after police found him parked on a Bronx street, asleep in his car with the keys in the ignition and radio and lights on.

A Bronx woman was charged in a deadly hit-and-run on Friday in Manhattan.

A Crain's NY columnist says the Bronx is losing out on development opportunities because of efforts to impose living wage jobs guarantees.

One Bronx precinct, the 43rd, which includes Parkchester and Soundview, has logged almost half of the city's missing children cases.

A woman was hit by a stray bullet in Soundview on Thanksgiving day.

The governor has called a special session in Albany, but some lawmakers, like lame duck Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada, may not show up for work.

Albania's Independence Day was celebrated yesterday in the Bronx's Belmont section.

Bronx News Roundup, May 28

 Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone! Enjoy the extra day off. Here are today's Bronx headlines:

A Jamaican drug lord, Christopher Coke, operated a drug ring out of Eastchester and parts of Queens for years, according to police. Law enforcement officials in Kingston, Jamaica have been pursuing Coke for the past four days, in violent assaults that left 74 people dead so far. Coke has still not been found.

A new book chronicles the pandemic of fires that ravaged the South Bronx during the 1970s.

An effort to keep state parks open this summer could lead to major cuts for institutions like the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden. The plan would take money from the state's Environmental Protection Fund, which pays for the zoo and gardens, to cover the cost of keeping the parks open.

Sam Suzuki, the Soundview landlord who was issued an arrest warrant by a housing court judge this month for ignoring court orders to fix his crumbling properties, has turned himself in to authorities.

Neighborhoods in the Bronx and Manhattan have the highest concentration of airborne nickel particles during the winter, according to a new air quality study from the Department of Health. Nickel, usually from oil burners, can irritate the lungs and worsen asthma and emphysema symptoms.

A video of Rocking the Boat founder Adam Green discussing the program, a boat-building project for students in the South Bronx. Here's a video interview with some of the program's participants that we took a few months back.

The city has settled to pay $700,000 to a mentally disturbed Soundview man who was shot by police officers during an altercation in 2005.

A pre-trial hearing is happening today for the two men accused of bomb plots at two Riverdale synagogues.

The Northwest Bronx is Burning!

On the heels of the nasty and suspicious fire at St. Nicholas Tolentine in University Heights this morning, another fire just broke out on Decatur Avenue, near E. 204th Street, in Norwood.

It's threatening to engulf a private home and fire fighters are currently working to stamp it out.

Thanks to BxNN blogger Greg Jost for the heads up.

We'll have more on both fires soon. Stay tuned.