On Sunday morning, a five-alarm fire broke out at a seven-story apartment building on Cottage Avenue, which forced more than 100 residents to evacuate their homes just days before Thanksgiving.
Fire officials reported that the fire started around 3 a.m. in a seventh-floor kitchen. The flames quickly spread into the space between the ceiling and the roof and moved across the rooftop, which made containing the fire difficult.
Residents described chaotic scenes. Many banged on doors to alert neighbors and urged others to evacuate. In one rescue, firefighters used ladders to pull a mother and daughter from a window. Both were transported to Jacobi Medical Center for evaluation.
“I just woke up from my sleep to find my friend who is still at the hospital, whose child is literally crying because she is traumatized,” said one resident, Andrea.
She’s lived at this apartment building for 23 years, reporting that she survived another fire two decades ago from across town. “I felt like this is déjà vu, what is happening and what happened. I’m in a daze, I don’t believe this is happening again,” she said.
Another resident, Erick Espinal, spoke of seeing the fire start from outside the building. “I was outside and as soon as I saw that, I got my kids, I got my parents, and then we started at least screaming towards the building like ‘fire, fire, everybody get out,” Espinal said.
Mount Vernon fire crews and units from neighboring communities fought to get rid of the flames for over eight hours. Officials attempted an interior attack, but the spread of the flames required a different method.
“We tried making an aggressive interior attack,” Mount Vernon Deputy Fire Chief James Lang said. “The fire gets into the cockloft which is a space between the top floor ceiling and underside of the roof. Once it get a headway, there’s just no stopping it.”
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard visited the site and coordinated with local organizations to provide support to displaced residents. The Red Cross set up a disaster relief station, distributing emergency vouchers and assisting with temporary housing and food.
“Families that have been impacted are being serviced here over at the Doles Center here in Mount Vernon,” the mayor said.
The mayor also noted that the building’s age and construction complicated firefighting efforts. “This is an old age style pre-war building, and there are no standpipes. So, of course, that makes it a little more difficult,” Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said on the scene.
In total, two residents and five firefighters were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators have begun searching for what started the fire. Many residents are now without homes and are relying on city support and relief organizations.
