'I wake up, and my refrigerator is on fire.' Mother saves children from burning apartment in Fordham Heights
A fire at 2176 Tiebout Ave. broke out at 8 a.m. Monday, leaving one person and one firefighter with minor injuries.
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A family grateful to be alive after a fire tore through an apartment in Fordham Heights.
The fire broke out on Monday at 8 a.m. at 2176 Tiebout Ave. Nearly 80 firefighters and emergency responders were on the scene.
Officials say it took the fire department about an hour to put the fire out.
One person was treated here for minor injuries. A firefighter was also treated for minor injuries and was taken to the hospital.
News 12 cameras went inside the fourth-floor apartment where the fire broke out and spoke to the mother, who made sure her family got out safely.
"My son comes out here and he's like 'Oh, the kitchen is on fire,'" Gina Stewart said. "So I'm running through the house, knocking on everybody's door so that they could get out."
Stewart says she made sure the front door was closed so the fire didn't spread to neighbors’ apartments. The family made it out safely through the fire escape, but their cat died in the fire.
Meanwhile, Stewart says she believes the fire may have been caused by a faulty electrical wire.
"On Friday, my light blew out in the kitchen," Stewart said, "Now I wake up, and my refrigerator is on fire."
Other residents in the building are dealing with damaged doors from the fire department trying to get everyone to evacuate. Neighbors worry about what caused the blaze.
"It concerns me because this is the second fire scare in this building," building resident Tanisha Ashe said. "The electricity do be acting up in here.”
The FDNY says it is investigating the cause of the fire.
