Two people were killed in a fire in a Thai Buddhist temple in the Bronx Wednesday morning, according to officials.

Officials say the fire broke out around 6 a.m. inside the Wat Buddhayaram Buddhist Temple in Fordham Heights. 

The fire then moved to an adjacent home and quickly turned into a three-alarm fire, with more than 150 firefighters responding, according to officials.

What You Need To Know

  • Two people, including a Buddhist monk, are dead after a fire broke out in what is often regarded as the oldest Thai Buddhist temple in the U.S.

  • Fire officials say the cause was a space heater that got too close to combustible materials and that their efforts were hampered by a car that was blocking the nearest fire hydrant

  • "When you park on hydrants, it slows us down, and when you're fighting a fire, seconds count," FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said

Fire officials say the cause of the fire was a space heater that got too close to combustible materials and that their efforts were hampered by a car that was blocking the nearest fire hydrant.

“They were really nice people,” Roma Rampersaud, who runs a daycare near the intersection of 180th Street and Anthony Avenue, said.

She was referring to the two people killed in Wednesday’s fire, one of them being a visitor to the temple and the other was a monk named Pra Maha Direg Chompunid.

“I’m so sad right now,” Mayuree Sriphirom, the treasurer of the temple, said.

Sriphirom says the building, which was often regarded as the oldest Thai Buddhist temple in the U.S., was significant to the small Thai community in the Bronx.

“It’s really important because we pray for our lives, for health, and for this earth, for everybody,” she said.

Niramon Zucker, a member of the temple’s congregation, says the monk brought peace “to everyone.”

“I’m still in shock,” she said. “I just can’t believe it.”

Zucker said she showed up on Tuesday, the day before the fire, to bring food to the monk. But one thing she noticed struck her: a car blocking a fire hydrant across the street from the temple.

“I looked at the car there and I said, ‘That’s so funny.’ Well, not funny, but like a fire hydrant, oh my God,” Zucker said.

“And then when I saw the news,” she added, as she just shook her head.

Fire officials have given warnings in recent days about cars parking in front of fire hydrants. They did so again after the fire on Wednesday.

“We all know we should not be parking on fire hydrants, and when you park on hydrants, it slows us down,” Chief of Department John Esposito said. “And when you’re fighting a fire, seconds count.”

This past weekend, a 37-year-old man was killed and two others injured during a fire in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

First responders say vehicles blocked both of the two closest hydrants, again delaying their response.