17-year-old killed as families search for loved one after Belmont fire
Reinaldo Rosario spent the night replaying video of the fire, fearing the worst for his cousin, who lived inside the building.
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Two people are dead, including a 17-year-old girl, after a massive five-alarm fire tore through a Bronx building Tuesday afternoon, displacing more than 70 residents.
The girl was visiting a friend at the time of the fire, and does not live in the building, according to sources.
The flames may be out, but the destruction remains. For some families, the search for answers is just beginning.
Reinaldo Rosario spent the night replaying video of the fire, fearing the worst for his cousin, who lived inside the building.
“Exactly where his apartment was where the biggest flame was flaming,” Rosario said. “I didn’t think he made it.”
The fire broke out just after 1:30 p.m. at 660 East 187th St., quickly growing from a third-alarm to a fifth-alarm blaze, according to the FDNY.
Fire officials say heavy flames were already ripping through the first floor when crews arrived. The building’s layout allowed the fire to spread rapidly up stairwells and walls, making it difficult to contain.
At one point, part of the structure collapsed before firefighters could fully get inside, injuring more than a dozen people.
Thick smoke blanketed the area — visible as far away as Manhattan — as residents scrambled to escape. One man was seen lying on the ground, covered in soot.
Officials say two people were killed in the fire. Their identities have not yet been released.
Despite the devastation, Rosario says he later learned his cousin survived.
“I came down to the church and found out from my cousin Ariel that he’s doing OK,” he said.
Now, like many others displaced, his cousin is left with nothing.
Rosario says he’s heading to see him with clothes and support — after the fire destroyed everything, including his pet.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
