A fire tore through a Bronxwood apartment building early Saturday morning, killing a wheelchair-bound man and sending his mother to the hospital, fire officials said.
The flames broke out just after 6 a.m. at the six story brick building along Colden Avenue, killing the 23-year-old disabled man after suffering severe smoke inhalation, officials said.
The victim, known around the building as Jose, cannot walk or speak, neighbors said.
The man’s mother, 54, also suffered smoke inhalation and is in critical condition at Jacobi Medical Center.
“I heard screaming,” said Ronald Campbell, 62, who lives directly above the doomed man’s fifth floor apartment. “I looked out the window and saw smoke.”
Campbell then climbed down the fire escape and smashed out the family’s window in an effort to save them but the billowing smoke was too much for him.
“When I busted the window I didn’t hear screaming anymore,” he said.
Campbell then scrambled back into his own apartment and proceeded to try and kick down the family’s locked apartment door.
“I banged on the door with a ball-peen hammer,” Campbell said. “Me and another guy tried to kick the door down. It got a little open but wouldn’t open [all the way]”
“I just feel bad for the kid,” he added. “It’s sad.”
Marvin Martin lives down the hall from the apartment where the fire started and said he tried to help get the door open before firefighters arrived, but with no luck.
“The hallway was smokey,” Martin said. “Smoke billowed from the door, from the cracks at the top and bottom.”
“We were trying the best we could to open the door,” he added. “I was kicking the door and he [Campbell] was banging on it [with a hammer]. [We] could not get it open.”
Firefighters arrived on scene and used a pry bar to open the door and began battling the blaze, which is believed to have started in the kitchen area near the front of the apartment.
“The fire was coming out into the hallway,” said Battalion Chief Thomas Jemmott. “It wasn’t one of those where you just open up the door and you go in.”
The smoke-eaters eventually made their way in and were able to pull the mother out into the hallway, he said. Jose was found in a back bedroom, but it was too late.
“The guys made a big effort to get to him and pull him out,” Jemmott said.