A 4-alarm fire in the Bronx Tuesday left three firefighters hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
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Another firefighter, 44-year-old Sean O’Rourke, was hurt in an accident driving the fire truck from Queens to the Bronx.
The fire broke out at about 12:30 p.m.in a two-story occupied private dwelling on East 235th Street off Carpenter Avenue in the Wakefield section.
About 170 firefighters responded to the fire, which spread to surrounding buildings.
Both were listed in critical but stable condition.
Three of the firefighters were critically injured. “The man’s temperature was extremely high, heart rate extremely high”. Joseph Martorell was released from Jacobi Medical Center after suffering second-degree burns.
FDNY firefighters Patrick Morello (top left), Joseph Brady (top right) and Lt. Joseph Martorell (bottom left) were all injured fighting an extra-alarm fire in the Bronx, while firefighter Sean O’Rourke (bottom right) almost lost his arm in an accident on the way to the scene, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
In a freak twist of events, one of the firefighters responding to the inferno almost had his arm torn off when the fire engine he was traveling in to the scene struck a subway beam.
“When I came out I saw the black smoke coming down the stairs”, said Sharon White, who lives in a first-floor apartment. “It was very upsetting”, FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard said.
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Surgeons were working to save his arm, according to fire officials.
