Fire official: Man dies in apartment fire in Pelham

Fire Chief Robert Benkwitt says firefighters were alerted around 8 p.m. Saturday about a fire in a fourth-floor apartment at 17 Fifth Ave.

News 12 Staff

Feb 20, 2022, 4:53 PM

Updated 968 days ago

Share:

A man is dead after a fire Saturday night in Pelham. 
Fire Chief Robert Benkwitt says firefighters were alerted around 8 p.m. Saturday about a fire in a fourth-floor apartment at 17 Fifth Ave. The village mayor says the building is about 100 years old. 
Some firefighters and people living there were also sent to the hospital with minor injuries. 
The fire chief says the man who died has yet to be identified. One of the residents says the victim was an older man who went back into the building to get his cat.
The building superintendent told News 12 some people were able to get back in Saturday night. 
Fire Chief Benkwitt said 10 of the 70 apartments were damaged from the fire. He said the Red Cross and Pelham Town House helped give those people a place to stay. 
Benkwitt also said Pelham firefighters, a smaller department, received help from neighboring departments, such as New Rochelle to extinguish the flames.