Mother And Son Die In 2-Alarm New Rochelle Apartment Fire

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Two people died in a fire at a historic New Rochelle residential building.

The alarm came in at 6:40 a.m., from an automatic alarm and a number of emergency phone calls. Fire crews arrived to find heavy fire out of two windows in an apartment on the third level, according to New Rochelle Fire Chief Andrew Sandor.

Crews had to stretch 400 feet of hose, down the length of the building and up the stairs. Chief Sandor said firefighters worked to keep the fire contained to a single apartment, which was important in the building built in 1928 with a lot of wood and void spaces in the walls.

The fire went to two alarms with approximately 50 firefighters eventually on the scene as temperatures climbed into the nineties. Just two minor injuries to firefighters were reported.

After knocking down the fire, crews searched the apartment and found two victims, one in each bedroom, both unresponsive. Firefighters began CPR and got the patients to the street, where EMTs took over resuscitation. Unfortunately, neither victim survived.

The fire victims were a mother, Maria Arreola, 47, and her son Andrew Salomon, 26, who both lived in the apartment at 30 Eastchester Road.

Fire officials say the cause of the fire was electrical. Investigators located an electrical outlet overloaded with extension cords. The fire was deemed to be not suspicious.

Three other units in the building were deemed unfit for occupancy. The building owner has sent a cleanup crew to the building, according to officials.

The Red Cross and the Fuller Center are working to help the displaced residents.

"The victims are in our thoughts and prayers," Chief Sandor said.

The Fuller Center's Jim Killoran wrote on social media that the group spent a long day helping displaced families. They were able to offer food, water and a chance to escape the potentially deadly heatwave at Church of the Holy Family.

On Friday afternoon, Killoran wrote that the Fuller Center DART team needed donations of toiletries and feminine sanitary products as it sought to find accommodations for a displaced family. You can contact Killoran through this email address.

In a Saturday morning update, Killoran posted: "Thank you for those who helped us yesterday. Today, an apartment still needed for two families... If you want to help in any way, text 914-406-3357... Always have a plan, a go bag... No one ever thinks disaster will happen." You can also contact DART by emailing this email address.