A raging Bronx fire left two men dead Wednesday morning and heavily damaged a Buddhist temple next door, FDNY officials said.
It was the second time this week a parked vehicle blocked the hydrant closest to a fatal blaze in the city.
The three-alarm fire broke out about 6 a.m. in a building on Anthony Ave. near E. Burnside Ave. and quickly spread to two buildings, including the temple, FDNY officials said. Aerial footage of the blaze shows one of the buildings completely consumed in flames.
When firefighters got to the scene, they found a man believed to be in his 40s dead in the building where the blaze began, officials said. A man believed to be between 60 and 80 was pulled out of the same buildings and rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.
It took more than 130 firefighters and EMS personnel about two hours to bring the massive blaze under control.
Firefighters had to snake hoses around a red sedan blocking the nearest hydrant.
“The closest hydrant to the fire is blocked by parked cars,” the FDNY tweeted along with a photo of the blocked hydrant.
The FDNY’s response to a fatal fire in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Sunday was slowed by a pair of SUVs blocking the two nearest fire hydrants. A Navy veteran up for a work promotion and planning to buy a house with his wife and family died in the blaze, officials said.