Gas Explosion, Four-Alarm Fire Kill One, Displace Hundreds in Bronx High-Rise

Explosion during gas-odor call

A suspected natural-gas explosion tore through the top floors of a 17-story high-rise at 3485 Bivona Street in the Bronx just after midnight Saturday, igniting a fast-moving fire that killed one resident, injured more than a dozen people and forced the evacuation of the entire building, officials said.

Residents in the Boston Secor Houses complex said they were jolted awake by a loud boom before seeing flames and thick smoke pour from upper-floor apartments. One woman on the 17th floor said she waved a bedsheet from her window as fire spread above and below.

“I thought that lightning hit the building or something, like a boom, like a bomb,” said Michelle, 45, who lives on an upper floor. “When I got up and looked through the window … there were fireballs dropping, so I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ We ran out, got dressed, and ran out.”

Fire Department of New York officials said crews were dispatched at about 12:09 a.m. after a report of an odor of gas in the building, in the Baychester section of the northeast Bronx. FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred.

“While our units were here investigating the odor of gas on the 15th and 16th floors, we had members on the 16th floor when the explosion occurred,” Esposito told reporters.

The blast caused severe structural damage and ignited multiple apartments on the building’s top floors.

“We had severe structural damage in six apartments on each floor,” Esposito said. “We eventually had fire in five apartments on the 16th floor and five apartments on the 17th floor.”

Four alarms, freezing conditions

The fire escalated to four alarms, drawing more than 200 firefighters and emergency medical personnel and about 75 units, officials said. Several firefighters became trapped in an elevator when power failed; they were later rescued, treated and released.

Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore called it “a very, very difficult night on a very cold night,” with temperatures around 10 degrees and a major winter storm forecast within hours. The cold complicated hose operations and required more frequent rotations to reduce risk of frostbite and hypothermia.

FDNY officials said 14 people were injured — one critically, five seriously and eight with minor injuries — including at least one firefighter with non-life-threatening injuries. Some accounts put the total at 15 transported to hospitals, reflecting differences in how first responders counted those who declined on-scene treatment.

One resident died at the building; authorities had not released the person’s name pending family notification.

Building evacuated; hundreds displaced

With utilities shut off and the upper floors badly damaged, the city ordered the evacuation of all 148 apartments in the tower. Fire officials said none of the units would be immediately habitable.

City agencies and the American Red Cross opened a reception and recovery center at a nearby public school. By afternoon, officials said more than 100 households and 305 residents, including 89 children, had been registered there. Overall, city leaders estimated that more than 300 people were displaced.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office this month, visited the site and the reception center Saturday.

“There are New Yorkers inside that building who have lost all of the possessions that they hold so dear,” he said. “They’ve lost pets. There’s one resident that lost their life and … there is nothing that you can truly say to someone who has gone through that kind of a grief.”

City officials also noted the incident could have been even worse had it occurred during the height of the forecast blizzard.

“If this had happened at the height of the storm, it would’ve been a much, much different event,” said Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner.

PACT program and gas-line work under scrutiny

Authorities said the blast is believed to have been caused by natural gas, though the exact source remained under investigation Monday by FDNY fire marshals.

The building is a former New York City Housing Authority development that shifted to private management in 2024 under the city’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program — a public-private arrangement now likely to face renewed scrutiny.

Boston Secor Houses, which includes 3485 and 3475 Bivona Street, was built around 1969 and long operated directly by NYCHA. The complex entered PACT in 2024 as part of a $419.6 million modernization deal to rehabilitate 951 apartments across three Bronx sites.

Under PACT, NYCHA retains ownership but converts apartments to project-based Section 8 subsidies, while private and nonprofit partners handle management, financing and renovations. For Boston Secor, the development partners include Beacon Communities, Kalel Companies and MBD Community Housing Corp.; Wavecrest Management serves as day-to-day property manager.

Renovation work began last fall and is expected to continue into early 2027. City housing officials say planned upgrades include overhauls of building systems such as roofs, elevators and gas lines.

Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said the building had undergone gas-system work connected to the PACT rehabilitation.

“Gas work was completed and signed off on,” Bozorg said, adding that city and utility inspectors had approved the work. She did not specify when the work was finished or which contractors were involved.

Officials cautioned it was too soon to determine whether the explosion was related to recent renovations, pre-existing infrastructure failures or another cause. The city’s Department of Buildings and utility regulators had not publicly detailed any prior gas-related violations at the address.

Broader concerns over NYCHA conditions

The explosion comes amid longstanding concerns about New York City’s public-housing infrastructure. About 500,000 New Yorkers live in NYCHA developments, many of them mid-20th-century buildings with chronic maintenance issues, including failing heating systems, mold, leaks, broken elevators and aging mechanical equipment.

To address a capital-repair backlog estimated at more than $70 billion, the city has accelerated PACT. As of late 2025, more than 31,000 apartments had converted to the model, with a goal of 62,000 by 2028.

Supporters say PACT is a necessary pathway to secure funding for repairs; critics argue it amounts to gradual privatization and that oversight of private managers and contractors can be opaque.

Saturday’s blast is also not the first gas-related failure in a Bronx public-housing tower in recent months. In October, a natural-gas boiler explosion at the Mitchel Houses in Mott Haven caused a 20-story brick chimney to partially collapse along a building’s facade. No serious injuries were reported, but residents were displaced from several apartments.

‘We just want to know why this happened’

In Baychester, residents said larger policy debates felt distant as they waited for word on when — or whether — they might return.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said officials were “praying for our residents and families at Boston Secor” and thanked first responders. Housing advocates and tenant leaders have called for a thorough investigation into the building’s gas work and into how complaints are handled in PACT-managed developments.

One 17th-floor tenant, who said she feared the building would collapse as the blast shook her apartment, described watching flames climb the exterior as she stood shivering on the sidewalk.

“We lost everything,” she said. “We just want to know why this happened — and if it’s safe to ever go back.”