Bedford Park tenants survey apartment damage nearly week after e-bike fire
It happened at 15 East 199th St. on Saturday. Eight people were injured because of the fire.
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Tenants in Bedford Park surveyed the damage to their apartments following an e-bike fire nearly a week ago.
It happened at 15 East 199th St. on Saturday. Eight people were injured because of the fire.
Samantha Santos lives on the first floor in the apartment underneath where the fire started. She says she heard what sounded like an explosion upstairs and quickly grabbed her children to evacuate. She says her 10-month-old baby was asleep in their crib moments before the ceiling crashed down above the crib.
"It's really sad because my kids, I do everything for my kids, and for them to not have a home, this is really sad," said Santos.
The City's Housing Preservation and Development team visited the property on Tuesday and issued a vacate order on several units, including the one where Santos lives.
Santos has filed an emergency transfer with Section 8 to find a new place to live.
On Thursday, crews were cleaning the black soot from the hallways of the building. However, tenants say they have been staying outside as much as possible because the lingering smell of smoke is too much to bear.
"The only time we can go into our apartment is to sleep, our clothes, a lot of us went to the laundromat yesterday because all of our clothes were burnt out," said Patricia.
