Firefighters’ rapid response contains blaze

The damage could have been much worse.

Firefighters from Riverdale’s Ladder 52 responded to a two-alarm kitchen fire at 3900 Greystone Ave., across the street from Fieldston Lower School, a little after 1 p.m., on Monday.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation as of Monday afternoon, according to Capt. Robert Keating of Ladder 52, but firefighters managed to contain the fire to a single sixth-floor apartment. There were no reported injuries.

The resident who lived in the affected apartment does not appear to have been home at the time, said firefighter Jeff Espreo.

Even after the fire was extinguished, fire trucks, ambulances and police vehicles still lined Greystone Avenue all the way to West 240th Street for some time after, with stretchers set up on the sidewalk.

“It’s an old building, probably about 80 or 100 years old, so the potential was there for (the fire) to be really big,” Keating said. “But firefighters did a great job putting a hole in the roof and stopping the fire from expanding into the cockloft,” the space between the top-floor apartment’s ceiling and the building’s roof. “It’s an area where fire can travel because it’s an open space.”

Hector Quintanilla, the building’s porter, pounded on front doors urging residents to get out of their apartments as soon as he noticed smoke.

“Everybody’s scared when there’s a fire, even me,” Quintanilla said in Spanish. “There’s nothing you can do but hope the firefighters get there.”

Carene Ebanks, a registered nurse who’s lived in 3900 Greystone for about 10 years, was on her way home from the post office when she stepped off the elevator and “smelled something burning.”

In fact, it was the apartment next to Ebanks that was on fire.

“I kind of put my ear closer to the door,” Ebanks said. “I heard crackling. And then I just ran back and called 911.”

When firefighters finally let Ebanks back into her apartment, she stood amidst the rubble assessing the damage.

“The roof is gutted, a section of the roof. The windows are out,” broken, Ebanks said, “and a lot of debris on the floors, but I should be able to stay.”

Actor Jerry Todisco lives across the hall from Ebanks.

“I’m thankful to be alive,” he said. “That’s the only thing that matters. Valuables can be replaced.”