A 20-story public housing building in the Bronx partly collapsed on Wednesday morning after what officials described as an explosion in the chimney.
Mayor Eric Adams confirmed at a news conference that “some type of explosion” had occurred in the chimney leading to the boiler room at 205 Alexander Avenue in the Mott Haven neighborhood. Robert Tucker, the fire commissioner, said fire marshals and the Police Department were still investigating the cause of the blast.
Fire officials said rescuers arrived at the scene just after 8 a.m. to find that an incinerator shaft had collapsed. Pictures that the Fire Department shared on social media showed a charred opening running down a corner of the building, which is part of the Mitchel Houses, a development managed by the New York City Housing Authority. The building houses about 3,462 people.
Officials said no injuries were reported at the building, which was built in 1966 Diana Ayala, the councilwoman representing parts of the Bronx, said the boiler that exploded provided heat and hot water for the entire building complex.
Soon after the explosion, about 50 people were gathered outside of the building. Some of them were shaking their heads.
Victoria Leltenant, who has lived on the building’s 17th floor for 40 years, said she had been watching the news in bed when she heard a boom. Then her broadcast went dark.
“The apartment was shaking” Ms. Leltenant, 74, said. “There was a lot of smoke. I said, ‘Let me get out of here.’”
She said she had left behind all of her belongings, including her phone, in the scramble to get out.
“I just want to go home,” she said.
India Thompson, who has lived in the Mitchel Houses for 15 years, said she was jolted awake when her bed started shaking. “I thought it was an earthquake,” she said.
Ms. Thompson, 46, said she looked out her kitchen window and saw a lot of smoke. Then parts of the building crumbled to the ground, brick by brick, she said.
Zach Iscol, the emergency management commissioner, said at the news conference that his agency was working with NYCHA, the Department of Buildings and Con Edison to inspect apartments for safety and restore services in the building.
Mr. Iscol said the American Red Cross and NYCHA had opened up a reception center for displaced residents at the Mitchel Community Center, around the corner at 210 Alexander Avenue. He encouraged anyone affected by the building collapse to call 311 if they needed food or any accommodations.
Vanessa Gibson, the Bronx borough president, said: “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and we avoided a major disaster here. Although there is a lot of cleanup, I’m so grateful that no one lost their life.”
Mr. Adams seemed to suggest that the explosion might be connected to the heat in the building kicking on for the season.
“It’s not lost on me that Oct. 1 is the day heating is turned on,” he said. “All of us should use this as a reminder that your boilers have been sitting idle.”
But Eva Trimble, the chief operating officer of NYCHA, said at the news conference that the agency checks its boilers. “We do summer overhaul in the early spring to make sure the equipment is ready for the heat season,” she said.
New York City’s public housing system has been in a deepening state of disrepair after decades of disinvestment. In 2023, city officials estimated that the system needed $78 billion worth of repairs over the next 20 years.
Mitchel Houses accounts for about $717 million worth of those needs, according to city data, including about $118 million for the building exterior and other structural issues.
“We were lucky that this emergency didn’t result in a loss of life,” said Amanda Septimo, a state assemblywoman representing the South Bronx. “But we can’t be relying on luck to keep our community safe.”
“We send resources down from the state to make sure that boilers get fixed,” she added. “We have to get a clear accounting of what happened and who is responsible.”
The collapse on Wednesday was one of the latest examples of the questionable structural integrity of aging New York City buildings. In December 2023, parts of a 46-unit building in the Bronx collapsed.
Miles G. Cohen and Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.
Taylor Robinson is a Times reporter covering the New York City metro area.
Mihir Zaveri covers housing in the New York City region for The Times.
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