Firefighter Dies in Bronx Fire

New York, NY —

A rookie firefighter died yesterday after the floor of a burning Bronx discount store collapsed.

Employees of the 99-cents store called for help after smoke started coming from a refrigerator and they couldn't stop it. Scores of firefighters responded to the one-story building on Walton Avenue Sunday afternoon. Five of them became trapped in the basement after the ground floor gave way while they were searching for victims. The firefighters had to be given oxygen through a special hose before the rubble could be partially cleared and they could be pulled out.

Twenty-five-year-old firefighter Michael Reilly died of his injuries. The other four firefighters trapped with him were also injured, one of them critically.