No injuries or deaths have been reported after an explosion and partial building collapse on Wednesday morning at a Bronx public housing complex.
The incident happened just before 8:10 a.m. on Oct. 1 at 205 Alexander Ave. in Mott Haven, within the Mitchel Houses complex.
“I felt the whole building shake,” said Shaquille Davis, who lives on the 10th floor of the residence that partially collapsed. He said he could smell natural gas throughout the building, and soon after, most of the residents inside the building were evacuated.
In the hours after the blast and collapse, Davis and his three children stood outside the structure and worried about their dog, Lady, who was still inside the building.
“I grabbed whatever I could and just left,” he noted. “Honestly, I’m grateful my family wasn’t affected in a more pronounced way.”
Numerous FDNY and EMS units rushed to the scene and found bricks strewn across the courtyard. The debris fell from a ventilation shaft leading to the building’s boiler.
“We believe that’s where the explosion occurred,” said Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker during a briefing. Fire marshals are still investigating to determine the cause of the blast and collapse.
Responding first responders combed through the rubble and used specially trained dogs to look for any potentially trapped victims. Miraculously, however, no injured individuals were found.
Still, danger remains of additional structural damage and falling bricks from the damaged shaft, according to Mayor Eric Adams.
“We need to make sure people stay away from the area to keep them safe,” said Adams, who noted gas service has been shut off to the complex while the investigation continues. “It is crucial that we make sure the area is safe, so we’re calling for residents not to go anywhere near the area.”
Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said the recovery operation is now underway in an effort with Con Edison, the Department of Buildings, NYCHA and other agencies to restore services.
“We have building inspectors that are inspecting the foundation of the buildings and inspecting all of the apartments in the affected areas to make sure the building is structurally sound,” Iscol said.
A reception center has been established at the Mitchell Community Center, 210 Alexander Ave., to serve any impacted residents, including providing them with temporary housing if necessary.
Crews are expected to demolish the remnants of the ventilation shaft Wednesday in order to fix the boiler and re-establish gas service, Iscol added.
The Buildings Department reported that the building had open violations regarding the boiler, but these were deemed “non-safety related” by Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo.
“My understanding is that work was being done on the boiler. The permit was pulled, and work was being done on it after,” he said. “There are three open violations on boilers, but they are for non-safety defects, and I would just urge caution that we don’t jump to any conclusions that they are related. We don’t know if they are or aren’t.”
Nonetheless, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said there would be answers to every question about the incident.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, but we avoided a major disaster,” she added. “We will learn through this investigation what happened, and we will make sure that measures are put in place to support all our residents and families here at Mitchel.”
Assembly Member Amanda Septimo, who represents the South Bronx, told the Bronx Times that her first priority was making sure residents felt safe returning home when allowed. Residents in the building next to the one that partially collapsed told her that their building shook during the explosion and prompted traumatic memories of 9/11.
“It was by the skin of our teeth” that no one was injured or killed, but when it comes to tenants’ ongoing safety, “You can’t expect people to be rolling the dice,” Septimo said.
She expressed frustration at other structural failures that have occurred in the Bronx, such as the Dec. 2023 partial collapse at 1915 Billingsley Terrace. Just last week, the Mitchel building that partly collapsed also saw an apartment fire that left a teenager critically injured.
Though the investigation is just beginning, Septimo said it appeared that there “hasn’t been the proper care” in the building. “These kinds of collapses and explosions don’t happen when things are going well.”
