A five-alarm fire burned through several longtime businesses in the heart of the Kingsbridge community in the Bronx early Wednesday morning.

“I was like, ‘What's all that noise?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It's just big flames and everything,” Jose, an eyewitness to the blaze, told NY1. “And this is a community around here. And so everybody's like, ‘Wow.’ It's like, it's gone.”

What You Need To Know

  • A five-alarm Bronx fire burned through several small businesses early Wednesday morning

  • Witnesses say the fire is believed to have started in a deli and spread to other longtime businesses

  • It took 200 hundred firefighters several hours to get the fire under control

  • One resident of a nearby building suffered a minor injured related to smoke inhalation

“I'm sure they are going to rebuild,” added Allan Demasi, a longtime resident of the community. “But it takes time. It’s sad, it’s sad to see, you know? Especially around Christmas.”

Fire officials said 911 calls began around 3:30 a.m. about a fire in the rear part of the Cold Cut City Bunny Deli. Witnesses in the area said they believe the fire started in the kitchen at the back of the deli.

When units arrived, heavy fire conditions had already spread to multiple commercial units. The deli, a seafood market and a floral shop are among the businesses destroyed.

Assistant Chief Tom Currao said 200 hundred firefighters responded to the scene.

“The reason a lot of these are so difficult is there are multiple ceilings in a lot of these stores and occupancies. Multiple ceilings being put up over time takes a lot of time to try to get at the fire and knock it down,” Currao said.

Carolina Pinckney recently moved her salon a few blocks to West 231st Street.

Pinckney said she has only been open a short time and now doesn’t know when she’ll be able to work again.

“Somebody called me and I don't know what happened because I go yesterday, everything is OK. Everything is perfect,” she said.  “It's not easy, it is very difficult because that's my business.”

Due to smoke conditions, all 1 trains were temporarily bypassing the 231st Street and 238th Street stations in both directions as the FDNY responded to the fire.

Nearby residents were advised to keep their windows shut. The apartment building next door to the deli was evacuated.

“I have to put some mask on because we can't breathe inside the building,” explained Amy Cordva. “Everyone was scared because we thought it was our building getting all the fire on. We didn't know what was happening until we get out of the building.”

Just one person suffered a minor injury related to smoke inhalation.

Fire marshals are conducting an investigation to figure out what caused the fire.