NEW YORK – At least 19 people were killed, including nine children, and dozens were injured in a fire at a Bronx apartment building. which was rated by New York City authorities as one of the worst in more than 30 years.
According to New York City Fire Commissioner (FDNY) Dan Nigro, the cause of the accident was a failure in an electric heater. Nigro added that the fire originated in a duplex apartment on the building’s second and third floors, but never spread beyond the unit and the hallway closest to the apartment. Smoke from the duplex fire was able to leak through an open door and spread throughout the 19-story structure, he explained.
“Unfortunately, the door to that apartment when the residents left was left open, it didn’t close. The smoke spread throughout the building, so there was a tremendous loss of life,” Nigro said at a news conference.
Smoke detectors inside the building were working and alerted a neighbor to the smoke and made the initial call to 9-1-1, the commissioner said. He also said that the heating in the building was working.
Press conference: NY authorities confirm that the cause of the deadly fire might be an electric heater
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE VICTIMS
Hours before, Commissioner and Mayor Eric Adams revealed that the fire left a total of 63 people injured. Thirty-two had been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and another nine had serious injuries. Sadly, 19 of those victims died.
The vast majority of the casualties suffered severe smoke inhalation, Commissioner Dan Nigro said. Firefighters who entered the building found victims on all floors of the building and many were experiencing cardiac and respiratory arrest.
The names and ages of the victims have not been released, but FDNY officials confirmed that at least 19 people died from injuries sustained in the incident. Flags in New York City will remain at half mast until sunset Wednesday, January 12, in memory of the victims of the deadly fire, Mayor Eric Adams announced.
Medical personnel try to save the lives of Bronx fire victims
“This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed here in modern times in New York City,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a first news conference several hours following the fire destroyed the building.
LOOK HERE A PHOTO GALLERY OF MOMENTS OF THE FIRE.
Here the details.
PEOPLE WERE TRAPPED THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING
Shattered windows and broken glass are seen in the front of the apartment structure. Videos capturing the first moments of the fire show flames pouring out of the duplex windows as smoke covered most of the building.
“There were certainly people trapped in their apartments throughout the building,” said Nigro, calling the smoke conditions “unprecedented.”
Nigro said it was “unusual” for the smoke to spread the entire length of the property.
The department estimates that 200 of its members responded to the 19-story residential building in East 181st Street in Fordham Heights around 11:00 a.m. The fire was brought under control shortly before 1:00 p.m.
THROUGH WINDOWS AND STAIRS: THIS WAS THE RESCUE
Firefighters rescued countless residents from the high-rise structure through windows and down stairs. Several of the members, the commissioner said, were left without oxygen while conducting rescues and continued operations without oxygen.
Karen Dejesus said she was making breakfast in her third floor apartment when she started seeing smoke.
“We just stay in the back room … and the next thing we know, we see flames coming out of the back windows and stuff,” he told our sister network. News 4 New York. “We smelled the smoke and the next thing we knew was that the whole upstairs and my apartment were dark and the fire department was breaking down the door to come get us. We had to go out the window and everything.”
The woman said her home was “flooded with smoke” following the fire broke out in a third-floor apartment.
Nigro and Adams rated Sunday’s disaster as one of the worst fires in New York City in at least three decades. In 1990, the fire of Happy Land claimed 87 lives in the Bronx.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted that she was “horrified” by Sunday’s fire.
“My heart goes out to the loved ones of all those we have tragically lost, all affected, and to our heroic @FDNY firefighters,” Hochul wrote. “All of New York State supports New York City.”
Videos circulating on social media show thick smoke billowing from the lower levels of the building where firefighters appeared to focus their attention.
During the incident, the city’s Emergency Management Office tweeted a warning to nearby residents so that they close the open windows and avoid the smoke.
Fire chiefs were available to investigate the cause of the fire, but the commissioner said he does not believe investigators will consider the source to be suspicious.
Fire in the Bronx listed as one of the worst tragedies in recent decades in NYC
HOW TO HELP THOSE AFFECTED
New York City and organizations like the Red Cross offer help for those affected and resources so that New Yorkers who wish to help with donations can do so.
Individuals can also call 3-1-1 for information.
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