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Volume XVIII • Number 42 • October 13 - 19, 2011 •
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Senior rescued from another apartment fire By MIAWLING LAM An elderly Bronx woman was rushed to the hospital after she became trapped inside her burning Riverdale apartment. Fire officials were called to an all-hands apartment fire on the fifth floor of the Algiers building, located at 3616 Henry Hudson Parkway, around noon last Friday. Firefighters stormed into the building, temporarily evacuated residents and rescued Ruth Wahrsager, 91, from the scene. FDNY Division 7 Deputy Chief James Mulrenan said the woman, who was found in respiratory arrest, was given CPR before being transported to Jacobi Medical Center. “She was removed to [another] apartment on the fire floor,” he said. “We began CPR and as soon as it cleared, we got her to the floor below.” Mulrenan said the fire was confined to the one unit but heavy smoke and water damage
spread throughout the floor. “We cut it off to that one apartment,” he said. “All the damage is confined to that one apartment.” When The Riverdale Review attended the scene last Friday, the apartment’s kitchen window and terrace door were completely smashed and thick soot blanketed the normally sunlit balcony. A child who lives on the second floor said she suspected something was amiss when she detected the distinct burning odor. “It smelled all smoky,” she said. “We thought it was somebody burning food, but then it got all strong.” Another child, who lives on the sixth floor of the south building, said he saw smoke coming out of the elevator shaft. An FDNY spokesman said investigations were continuing and a cause has yet to be established, but the fire is believed to have started in the kitchen.
He said 60 firefighters from 12 units, including Ladders 37, 49 and 52, battled the blaze and got it under control within 49 minutes after the call came in. Surrounding roads were taped off, and the MTA diverted some bus services. A spokeswoman from Jacobi Medical Center refused to disclose the patient’s condition so her health status was unclear. However, Officer Mindy Ramos from the 50th Precinct said the woman suffered only smoke inhalation when she was transported to the hospital. The latest incident follows the deaths of two elderly people from a fire that broke out on 2400 Johnson Avenue on September 22. The two-alarm fire, which started in a 14th floor apartment, claimed the lives of Cornelia Dykshoorn, 87, and Marinus Dykshoorn, 91. The couple had reportedly lived in the building for at least 30 years.
Firefighters from 12 units responded to an all-hands fire that broke out in The Algiers building last Friday. Ruth Wahrsager, 91, was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
Crowds pile into local buses By BRENDAN McHUGH Even Ms. Frizzle’s magic bus can’t solve this problem. As fees for bridges and tunnels skyrocket, more and more people have turned to buses for transportation. Unfortunately, the cash-strapped MTA hasn’t improved service to make room for the new passengers. The issue hasn’t gone unnoticed by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who requested that the MTA add extra buses during the evening rush hours of 4 to 9 p.m. running from West 231st Street
and Broadway to the city line. “This will provide additional service at the most crowded location at the busiest time,” Dinowitz wrote in a letter to Thomas Prendergast, president of the MTA. “It would go a long way towards making the commute of many of my constituents more bearable and would encourage more people to use mass transit.” Last week, it took straphangers boarding the Bx7 and Bx10 more than seven minutes just to Continued on Page 19
First-graders Maureen McCormick (left) and Melanie Jimenez (right) from St. Margaret of Cortona use iPads to supplement learning. The school will accelerate its rollout of the devices this month. Read the full story on Page 3.