'We could have been gone.' Fire destroys businesses and apartments in Melrose
The FDNY says that the call came in around 9 a.m. for the location, which has a flower shop and grocery store on the ground level.
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A fire that started late Saturday morning destroyed at least two businesses and multiple apartments at the corner of Courtlandt Avenue and E 151st Street in Melrose.
The FDNY says that the call came in around 9 a.m. for the location, which has a flower shop and grocery store on the ground level.
"All of a sudden, we heard something exploded, almost like thunder," said Maude Smallwood, who works in the hair salon next door.
Jimmy Ayala's wife was working in the flower shop when the flames started. She also told him it was like a boom, and then the fire started like "one, two, three."
Another worker told News 12 off camera that the flames spread almost immediately from the flower shop, which is in a small area at the front, back into the grocery store, and then up into the apartments above.
FDNY says it took over an hour and a half to get under control.
"Everybody was screaming, shouting," said Chris Quintro, who lives in the building. "(The flames) started coming into the building, so we all ran outside."
The Red Cross was seen up on the second and third floors It told News 12 that it was helping nine adults and a child, who are from three different apartments.
"Some of my neighbors from the top, they told me they lost their belongings. They can't stay there," Quintro said.
FDNY says there were no reported injuries.
Smallwood's salon had almost no damage besides the window.
"We could have been gone. It's like a dream," Smallwood said. "I'm going [to] cry again if we start talking about it, because I've never seen anything like that."
A cause of the fire was not immediately known.
