Metro

Hero store manager saves employees from Bronx fire

A quick-thinking store manager herded five employees to safety as fire ripped through a commercial block in The Bronx on Sunday morning, destroying two stores and damaging two others, officials said.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, but no civilians were hurt, authorities said.

Fino Men’s Shoes and Fine Wear and 99 Cent Dreams on East Burnside Avenue near Walton Avenue went up in smoke around 10:35 a.m., according to the FDNY. The raging inferno became a three-alarm fire by 11:10 a.m. and spread to a nearby produce store and meat market, authorities sad.

Butcher-shop manager Pasquel Costas was inside La Marketa with several workers when the blaze began.

“It was a normal Sunday,” he said. “Then a lot of smoke started to come into the store — lots of smoke. We realized the fire started on the corner, and I had to get everyone out. So, I got all my workers out, and we went across the street.”

A witness flagged down firefighters doing inspections nearby, and the FDNY responded immediately, but the flames quickly spread.

“We just saw the stores burn down,” Costas said. “I don’t know what we’ll do.”

Investigators have not determined the cause.