23 injured in seven-alarm blaze in the Bronx

Twenty-three people — including nine children and a firefighter — were injured early Tuesday in a seven-alarm blaze that swept through a four-story apartment building in The Bronx, officials said.

The fire erupted about 5:30 a.m. in a first-floor furniture store at 1547 Commonwealth Ave. in the Van Nest section, the FDNY said.

The blaze quickly spread to the upper floors, leaving one person seriously hurt while 22 others suffered non-life threatening injuries, officials said.

“We had a very advanced fire that moved quickly up through this building,” said FDNY Assistant Chief Roger Sakowich.

“Obviously, the cold and ice is affecting us more once we had to come out and fight it from the outside.”

The water from the hoses turned to ice on the ground, and Bravest had to be immediately replaced as they came from the building frigid-wet, officials said.

Sakowich said the fire spread quickly, feeding off the furniture inside the store before spreading to the apartments above.

The billowing smoke caused by the raging fire made bad conditions even worse for firefighters.

“On the first floor, I think we had mattresses or something, so they gave off a lot of smoke,” Sakowich said.

He also said the building suffered severe damage, giving cause for concern of a collapse.

Firefighters broke windows to get residents out of the building as the fire continued to rage in the upper floors.

Jesus Cid, 44, the building’s superintendent, said he and his family were forced to flee building, which injured his three small children.

“Our kids are in the hospital for now, but no lives are lost,” he said, adding that his children’s injuries are not life-threatening.

“When I carried my babies, it was so dark. I carried one, my wife carried the other one, my niece carried the other one.”

“I couldn’t use the fire escape because the smoke was coming from outside. So I just wrapped my baby in the blanket and carried her downstairs.”

The blaze was brought under control around noon.

Officials said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The displaced residents were placed on an MTA bus so they could keep warm while firefighters continued battling the blaze.

This fire comes just days after 12 people were killed at 2363 Prospect Ave. in The Bronx – the city’s deadliest fire in more than a quarter-century.