A fire registered this Sunday in a residential building in the Bronx left at least 19 fatalities, including nine children, making it one of the most tragic fires on record in recent New York history.
“Today we have lost 19 of our neighbors. It’s a tragedy beyond measure“confirmed the mayor of the city, Eric Adams, who asked to pray for the deceased and, especially, for the nine minors killed in the event.
Meanwhile, the chief of the New York Fire Department, Dan Blacktold reporters that there are at least 63 injured and that several deaths are expected.
“The figures are horrible”Adams said at a news conference at the scene.
Bronx 5th alarm with numerous victims @FDNY @NYCFireWire pic.twitter.com/Ae7UCKC3J1
– Billy Goldfeder (@BillyGoldfeder) January 9, 2022
The fire broke out in a duplex located on the second of the 19 floors of the building and the smoke spread very quickly throughout the building, in a very unusual way, according to the fire chief.
Nigro assured that the rescue teams found victims on all floors, mostly as a result of smoke inhalation, many of them in very serious condition and were transferred to various hospitals.
More than 200 personnel participated in the tasks of extinguishing the fire, whose origin is unknownaccording to the city’s Fire Department (FDNY).
Despite this, the person in charge pointed out that the door of the apartment where it started was open and this fueled the flames and made it easier for the smoke to move quickly.
FIRE WORK ON SITE
In images distributed by various media and on social networks, many people might be seen, including children, being cared for by emergency teams.
Nigro likened it to the 1990 fire at the Happy Land club, in which 87 people perished and which is the greatest tragedy of its kind in recent New York history.
The worst fire on record in the Big Apple took place in 1911 in a factory in southern Manhattan, killing 146 people.
Today is the second major fire that the United States registers this week, following the one that was lived on Wednesday in a residential building in Philadelphia, in which twelve people died, including eight children.
STORY OF THE AFFECTED
In The Bronx, many residents were evacuated by firefighters through the windows of the building, as might be seen in collected images published on social networks and according to several survivors told local media.
“I was yelling: help me! Please come get us!” The New York Times Wesley Patterson, a 28-year-old man who lives on the third floor of the burning building and was rescued by firefighters with a ladder when his home was already full of smoke.
Cristal Díaz, another resident, told the New York Post that when he began to smell smoke, he placed wet towels on the door: “We did not know what to do. We looked out the windows and saw all the corpses that they were pulling out with sheets“.
“I am horrified by the devastating fire in The Bronx today. My heart goes out to the loved ones of all those we have tragically lost, to all those affected and to our heroic firefighters,” the New York State Governor said via Twitter. , Kathy Hochul.
#FDNY made numerous rescues at a 5 alarm fire in the Bronx, going on right now. HazMat was requested for a Lithium Ion battery on fire. It is unclear if the battery caused this fire or was damaged by the fire. Fire Marshals will investigate @UFANYC @ UFOA854 @IAFFNewsDesk pic.twitter.com/GNrs6FtIKZ
— NYCFireWire (@NYCFireWire) January 9, 2022
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