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Bronx deli fire that injured 1 person, damaged businesses being investigated as possible arson, police say

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — Police say they are investigating a fire that injured one person and damaged a row of Bronx businesses as possible arson.

It started just before 10:15 p.m. Tuesday at a deli on West 183rd Street between Jerome and Davidson avenues in the Fordham section.

In surveillance video, it appears as though people are crowded at the door as flames erupt and burst several times.

According to police sources, witnesses said two men threw two bottles containing an unknown substance into the deli.

Witness Andrew Franco said he sprung into action when he learned a person was still inside the building.

“I run into the fire through the back entrance of the doorway. I kick the door in to drag the person out,” he said. “I grabbed somebody. He was halfway burnt. His arms, his legs … some of his face.”

Police say the 33-year-old man was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.

Jesus Beserra was right next door where he works at Las Palmas Bakery when he heard what he described as an explosion.

“Smoke started coming out. I recorded it, and then I left because things started to get really bad,” he told CBS News New York in Spanish.

Video shows firefighters were forced to break the bakery’s windows as it filled with smoke.

“There was a lot of smoke, and they needed to get inside to cut the gas supply,” Beserra said.

Over 140 FDNY personnel responded. A partial vacate order has been issued for the building due to the damage.

Bakery manager Oskar Guzman says they will rebuild, but it will take time.

“I have to work again. We have to rebuild the building again,” he said. “We have to see the insurance and everything like that to put it back again, the business.”

The exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined, and no arrests have been made.

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US Air Force flight to Antarctica turns back after space activity warning

(CNN) — A US Air Force flight bound for Antarctica returned to New Zealand after a warning about “potentially hazardous” space activity, according to New Zealand authorities.A spokesperson for New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the agency was aware the US Air Force flight from Christchurch turned around following a warning it issued, known as a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen).The space activity was notified to the agency by Russia’s State Air Traffic Management Corporation, “resulting in the issuance of a NOTAM advising pilots of the hazard,” CAA said in a statement Tuesday.In a follow-up statement Wednesday, CAA said it was made aware by the Russian air traffic agency of a planned missile launch and “associated potential hazard to international airspace, within New Zealand’s Oceanic Flight Information Region (FIR),” a 30-million-square-kilometer area which is one of the largest airspaces in the world.CNN has reached out to the US Air Force, the US Antarctic Program and the Russian State Air Traffic Management Corporation.Flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows a US military C-17 Globemaster III departed Christchurch Airport around 9 a.m. local time Tuesday headed south, using the call sign ICE28. It returned to Christchurch just before 11:30 a.m., roughly 150 minutes later.The flight was scheduled during the annual Winter Fly-in (WINFLY) period, during which flights resume between Christchurch and the US Antarctic research base, McMurdo Station, and New Zealand’s Scott Base in Antarctica – a busy period for transporting staff, equipment and supplies ahead of the summer research season.“We put in place a danger area and issued a NOTAM to alert aircraft operators to the potential hazard. This does not prevent aircraft from flying through the area, operators make their decisions based on the information available,” CAA said in its Wednesday statement.“Much of our Oceanic FIR is over international waters, where we have limited control over activities,” it added, referring to the airspace of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea, where it’s responsible for aircraft flying at certain altitudes.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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