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The three-story building, at 94 Saratoga Ave., was deemed structurally unstable and a hazard after a four-alarm fire ripped through it shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday, Fire Chief John Flynn said.
Firefighters received an emergency call Monday from a child, and the first units to arrive found the wood-frame building fully involved in flames, Flynn said.
All Yonkers fire companies, consisting of about 80 firefighters, were on the scene; and mutual aid from neighboring departments provided coverage for the rest of the city, he said.
The fire was ruled under control at 4:15 p.m. It briefly re-ignited a short time later but was put out by firefighters, Flynn said.
The blaze was believed to have ignited somewhere on the lower floor in the building's central shaft, which runs from the basement to the roof, in the center of the building, Flynn said Tuesday.
The chief said the cause, although still under investigation, was likely electrical. But, Flynn said, the cause will probably never be definitively determined due to the amount of damage. Arson has been ruled out, he said.
Six families were displaced by the fire, and the Red Cross said it was helping about 30 people find temporary shelter.
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