Bronx apartment fire injures 8, including child

BRONX - Eight people, including one child, were injured after a fire broke out in an apartment in the Bronx, police said.

It happened on Saturday evening around 5:40 p.m on E. 199th Street between Jerome Avenue and Grand Concourse.

Investigators are working on the theory that e-bikes may have caused this fire. 

Neighbors reported hearing a loud explosion from one of the apartments around 6 a.m.

Moments later, a woman ran down the stairs naked.

The building superintendent said he's been trying to keep e-bikes out of the building, but now suspects one apartment was being used as an unauthorized e-bike repair shop.

When firefighters arrived, they found several people who lived in the building on the fire escape.

FOX 5 NY's Duarte Geraldino spoke to one young woman who ran out of her apartment with her 10-month-old baby.

"When I opened the door, it was like a movie," Samantha Santos said. "We just saw mad black smoke come down and the lady who did that in her house, came to us naked. She was like ‘oh, my kitchen exploded. Everything damaged my whole house, it’s flooded. My child's bed is ruined, everything. I don't have nothing because my apartment is gone.'"

The building has more than 30 units and at least 10 apartments were damaged by the fire.

The most seriously injured victim was a child who was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains.

No one is dead.