By Colin Mixson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Fires that sprung up in Queens and the Bronx injured 15 people — 13 of them firefighters — on Monday.
A blaze erupted on the 27th floor of the gated North Shore Towers and Country Club off Grand Central Parkway at about 4:30 a.m.
Smoke-eaters quelled the blaze at 6:32 p.m., the FDNY said.
Paramedics rushed four firefighters and one civilian to Long Island Jewish Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, according to a Fire Department spokesman.
The Bronx fire sparked in a three-story building on Castle Hill Ave. near the Cross Bronx Expressway at shortly after 2 p.m., before spreading to a neighboring building of roughly the same size, according to FDNY Chief of Operations John Esposito
The fire engulfed the top floors of both buildings, before burning through the roof, Esposito said.
The FDNY utilized unmanned drones to achieve a bird’s-eye view of the blaze, but the summer heat forced commanders to rapidly pull personnel off the fire due to heat exhaustion, according to Esposito.
“It’s a very hot day today, we’ve used a lot of units,” said Esposito at a news briefing held amid fire operations. “We want to be careful and aware of our members of their safety, we tend to relieve them earlier.”
The Bronx fire sent 10 people to the hospital for non-fatal injuries, including nine firefighters who were treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion, according to EMS Operations Deputy Chief Joseph Pataky.
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