A gas explosion tore through the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring at least 14 others as firefighters battled flames in bitterly cold conditions, authorities said.
Fire crews were called to the 17-story building in the Bronx shortly before 12:30 a.m., where flames spread rapidly across the top floors and residents were seen leaning out of windows, calling for help, officials said. Overnight temperatures had dropped into the single digits, complicating rescue efforts.
Chief of Department John Esposito said firefighters had been investigating reports of a gas odor on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. The blast caused significant structural damage to roughly a dozen apartments and sparked fires in 10 units on the 16th and 17th floors, he said.
Authorities did not immediately identify the person who died. One individual was critically injured, five others suffered serious injuries and eight sustained minor injuries, officials said.
City officials said the building had recently undergone renovations and that work on the natural gas system had been completed and inspected. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. The property was previously managed by the New York City Housing Authority but has been under private management since 2024.
“It’s an incredible tragedy. We’re sending all our thoughts to the families involved,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning, said at a morning news conference.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said utilities to the building were shut off and all 148 apartments were evacuated. A reception center for displaced residents was established at a nearby school, with the American Red Cross providing emergency assistance, including housing support.
“As you can imagine, this has been a deeply frightening and devastating morning for them,” Mamdani said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. “They are not alone. Our city will stand by them and do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet.”
By early Saturday afternoon, the Red Cross said it had registered more than 100 households and 305 people for emergency aid, including 89 children.
More than 200 fire and emergency personnel responded to the scene, according to the fire department. Officials said that when the explosion occurred, several firefighters were briefly trapped inside an elevator.
“There were injuries. It was a very, very difficult night on a very cold night, which caused even more difficulty,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
The incident has renewed concerns about aging residential buildings across New York City. About half a million residents live in properties operated by the city’s housing authority, known as NYCHA, many of which date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. A federal monitor appointed in 2019 cited long-standing issues such as deteriorating infrastructure, mold and lack of heat before concluding his term in 2024, noting the ongoing “poor physical state of NYCHA’s buildings.”
The Bronx explosion follows a similar incident last October, when a towering brick chimney attached to a housing authority building collapsed after a gas-related blast, narrowly avoiding injuries despite sending debris crashing to the ground. Officials later linked that incident to a natural gas boiler.
Originally reported by The Associated Press in CTV News.
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