5-Alarm Fire Destroys 14 Bronx Businesses

Yesterday's five-alarm fire has devastated the owners of 14 businesses along Bainbridge Avenue in the Norwood section of the Bronx. Mahmoud Zaghari, whose brother's convenience store was ruined, told WCBS 2, "All our money was in this store, all our investment was in this store, and in two, three hours, nothing - that's it."

Almost 200 firefighters battled the blaze for five hours. According to MyFoxNY, "Because the building was built using fire codes from the 1800’s, the fire was able to spread in a compartment above the ceiling and below the roof." The Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire, which happens to be the second in six months. The first was in April, damaging the Bainbridge Bakery, whose owners had been renovating the store. Ana Mirvita said her family's bakery was uninsured because of the previous fire and that the new insurance was going to kick in a few days when it reopened.

Francisco Diaz Sr., whose El Diamonte restaurant also suffered in the April fire, told the Daily News, "This is very sad. I don't like to see my restaurant like that. I've put many hours into making that place nice," and wasn't sure if he could reopen again. And the owner of a cell phone store wondered, "How could the same building owner have two fires in one year?"