Much of the Bronx lives in apartment buildings: the large prewar buildings along the Grand Concourse and in Fordham, Kingsbridge and Highbridge, the walk-ups of Mott Haven and Hunts Point, the towers of Riverdale and Co-op City. A fire in one apartment in a building like these can leave many households with smoke, water or a vacate order, many of them renters who need to know what their landlord must do and where to find somewhere to stay. This page covers fire damage restoration in the Bronx with those tenants and owners in mind.
NYC Fire Damage Restoration is an independent referral service, not a restoration company. When you send the form, your details go to an independent local restoration provider serving New York City, who can contact you, inspect and quote any work directly. You decide whether to hire them.
Fire, smoke or water damage in a Bronx building? Send the request, and an independent local provider can contact you.
If your building is vacated
The City Council’s Residential Fire Emergency Response Guide explains that once a fire is out, DOB assesses the building’s structure and may issue a vacate order, and HPD inspects units for habitability and may issue one too. A vacate order means your unit is not safe to live in. It is not an eviction order. DOB says no one can enter a building with a vacate order in effect, and that orders can be partial or full.
- Right away: the Council’s guide says the Red Cross does an immediate needs assessment and, if the home is not safe, can help with a hotel for 24 to 48 hours, then refers families to HPD and HRA. Everyone qualifies regardless of legal or citizenship status, and you have 14 days from the fire to register if you missed it.
- Short term: DOB’s Vacate Order FAQs describe Red Cross emergency shelter for up to 2 nights for eligible households.
- Longer term: the same FAQs point to HPD’s Emergency Housing Services.
- Lost belongings: HRA offers emergency assistance for clothes, personal items or furniture lost to a fire.
- Rent: rent stabilized and rent controlled tenants can file with DHCR to reduce the rent to $1 a month while they cannot live in the unit, according to DOB.
The contact details for each of these are listed on DOB’s Vacate Order FAQs page.
What the landlord should be doing
The City Council’s guide says building management should send workers to board up broken windows, holes in the roof and other openings on the day of the fire, and hires the vendors for clean-up, remediation and rebuilding. Their clean-up company should test for asbestos, and a tenant can call 311 to request a DEP inspector to take samples, which pauses clean-up. Under a vacate order, DOB says the owner must correct the conditions, may need a licensed engineer or architect to file applications with DOB, and must request that the order be lifted. Each agency that issued an order then inspects and rescinds it.
You can follow the work: DOB says permit applications can be tracked in DOB NOW or BIS, with job-status alerts at nyc.gov/DOBjobstatus. DOB lists a Construction Enforcement Unit for the Bronx on its Vacates Order page.
Smoke and water in the units around the fire
In a big building, the apartment that burned is often not the only one damaged. Smoke and heat rise, as NYC Emergency Management notes, so smoke can reach the floors above and along the hallways, and the water used to fight the fire comes through the ceilings below. NYC Emergency Management’s advice during a fire depends on the building: in a high-rise, stay in your apartment if the fire is not in it; in a building that is not fireproof, generally six stories or fewer, get everyone out and close the doors behind you. Afterward, tenants should photograph all damage in their unit and tell the landlord in writing. See smoke damage restoration NYC and fire and water damage restoration.
Mold after the fire
Firefighting water that is not dried in the 24 to 48 hours the EPA advises can turn into mold. Local Law 55 of 2018 requires owners of buildings with three or more apartments to keep tenants’ apartments free of mold and pests, including safely fixing the conditions that cause them, and the Health Department says this includes safely repairing underlying problems like water leaks. HPD tells tenants who see a leak or signs of mold to notify the landlord and, if it is not fixed or the work is not done safely, to file a complaint online or call 311.
Neighborhoods across the Bronx
The request form covers the whole borough: Mott Haven, Port Morris, Hunts Point, Melrose, Morrisania, Highbridge, Concourse, Fordham, Belmont, Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Norwood, Bedford Park, Parkchester, Soundview, Castle Hill, Throgs Neck, Pelham Bay, Co-op City, Williamsbridge and Wakefield. When you send the request, say whether you rent or own, the building type and whether the building is under a vacate order. An independent local restoration provider can contact you, inspect and quote directly. For a co-op or condo owner, or an owner of a building, the guide to fire damage repair explains the rebuild.
Questions people ask
Where do I stay if my Bronx apartment is vacated after a fire?
The City Council’s guide says the Red Cross can help with a hotel for 24 to 48 hours after an immediate needs assessment and then refers families to HPD and HRA. DOB’s FAQs point to HPD’s Emergency Housing Services for longer-term help.
Do I still pay rent if I cannot live in my apartment?
DOB says rent stabilized and rent controlled tenants can file with DHCR to reduce the rent to $1 a month while they cannot live in the unit. The City Council’s fire guide also says that a vacate order means you will not owe any rent to your landlord while it is in effect. For your own situation, check your lease and ask for advice.
Who cleans up a Bronx apartment building after a fire?
The City Council’s guide says building management hires the vendors for clean-up, remediation and rebuilding, and that their clean-up company should test for asbestos.
Fire damage helpFive boroughs