2-alarm fire breaks out in basement of Yonkers church
New Main Street in Yonkers is open again after crews responded to a two-alarm fire that broke out in a basement of a church on the street on Monday.
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Yonkers firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire that broke out in a basement of a church in Yonkers on Monday.
The Spanish-speaking church, located at 242 New Main St., is where people nearby said they saw smoke coming out of the building Monday afternoon.
The scene made Juan Fajardo, a barber, dial 911.
"I call[ed around] 1:34 p.m. and the fire department get [sic] here around five minutes after that," Fajardo said.
Joseph Citrone, the deputy fire chief for Yonkers Fire Department, shared what his crews saw when they arrived and forced their way into the building.
"They found out that there was fire in the walls of the basement, so they made their way down into the basement, they had to open up all the walls, it took an effort of three hose lines, it got deemed a second alarm," Citrone said.
Citrone said over 50 firefighters responded to the scene. It took them anywhere between 20 and 25 minutes to put out the fire.
Although the flames didn't extend to any of the other buildings nearby, officials said they evacuated a four-story residential building out of abundance of caution.
No injuries were reported, which made witness Andre Blake relieved.
"Everybody is safe, so everything is going to be alright," Blake said.
Pastor Baldomero Moran said the entire incident made his heart hurt.
"It's broken," Moran said. "That's it."
Moran said he is unsure when church services will resume.
Cynthia Gonzalez, the owner of the salon that is to the left of Moran's church, said she's feeling the pastor's pain, too.
"[It's] sad," Gonzalez said. "So sad."
She made this GoFundMe to help with any damage caused to her business.
