A mom and her teenage son were fighting for their lives Sunday after firefighters pulled them from an “intense” blaze in the Bronx that left 18 others injured.
Firefighters rescued the woman, Servatanna Flores, 35, from a burning bedroom and kicked down a locked bathroom door to save her 14-year-old son, Rafael.
Both were in critical condition at Lincoln Medical Center, FDNY officials said. Authorities did not immediately identify the victims, but Flores and her boyfriend, Jose Cantero, 37, who was being treated in stable condition, were identified by two of Cantero’s relatives.
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“We get nervous, scared, worried. We try to stay calm and give the best support we can so that we can pray that everything goes well,” Cantero’s sister, Cherline Cantero, told the Daily News.
The fire started at about 12:30 p.m. in a second-floor apartment in the building on Prospect Ave., near E. 163rd St. in Morrisania, a Fire Department spokesman said.
FDNY Capt. Joseph McConnell of Ladder 42 described “heavy smoke, high heat” in the building as his company — the first on the scene — entered.
Smoke-eaters found the fire raging in a bedroom, and as Firefighter Thomas Morrison kept the flames at bay with a water can, the company went to work searching the room.
Firefighter Sean Heater came in from the outside through a window, finding the first victim, Flores, “halfway on the bed in between the bed and the window,” McConnell said. “She looked black from soot.”
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He and Firefighter Donal Finnegan helped rescue her.
McConnell kicked down the door of a nearby bathroom, where he found Rafael, unconscious.
Heater broke a thumb during the blaze, and two other firefighters sustained serious but not life-threatening, burns, authorities said.
Javich Valentin, one of Cantero’s neighbors, said emergency personnel worked desperately to revive Flores.
“They were really pumping her chest, banging on it,” Valentin said. “They told her boyfriend that she died, but when they went to the hospital they were able to bring her back, and she’s on life support right now.”
In addition to the critically injured mother and son, 14 civilians suffered minor injuries. Another refused medical attention, FDNY officials said.
Witnesses described chaos, flames, smoke and desperate calls for help.
“A little girl was screaming, ‘Help me! Help me!’ I opened the door and there was smoke everywhere, thick black smoke covering the halls. You could barely see,” said Evelyn DeJesus, 60, who lives on the second floor, where the fire began. “It was very intense. It looked so spooky.”
Firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour before bringing it under control.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the fire.
With Ellen Moynihan, Andy Mai
