Fires in the Bronx and Manhattan kept emergency personnel busy early Thursday, with more than 100 firefighters battling flames at a Dunkin' Donuts that spread to nearby stores and others tackling a rooftop blaze at a luxury building in SoHo.
The fires broke out within about an hour of one another. Nearly a half-dozen firefighters were hurt in the SoHo one, officials say, but they're all expected to be OK. Four suffered minor injuries in the Bronx.
“We are lucky this happened so early in the morning; the heat and humidity hadn’t really kicked in yet. We rotate the members out due to extreme conditions to make sure everybody’s hydrated and doing well while operating at these types of environments,” said Division Chief Mark Bonilla.
Firefighters were first called to Third Avenue near 156th Street in the Bronx around 5 a.m. for a fire in a Dunkin' Donuts that appeared to have spread to other businesses. It's not clear what sparked the fire, but it was out within a few hours.
The fire destroyed a row of four or five businesses in the Melrose neighborhood, including a Chinese restaurant, a smoke shop, a furniture store and an electronics store, in addition to the Dunkin'. An investigation by fire marshals was ongoing, and inspectors with the Department of Buildings were also at the scene to scout for any possible structural damage to the commercial building.
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Over in SoHo, about an hour later, firefighters were called to a five-story luxury building on Broome Street for a rooftop fire. That fire spewed thick black smoke into the air that could be seen from miles away.
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The cause is under investigation.
