At Least 19, Including 9 Children, Killed in Massive New York Building Fire (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A five-alarm fire at a high-rise apartment building has left at least 19 people dead and over a dozen critically injured in the New York borough of the Bronx.
About 200 firefighters were battling the five-alarm fire that started in a duplex apartment on the third floor of a 19-story high-rise building at 333 East 181st Street in the Tremont section of the Bronx just before 11 a.m. Sunday.
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro says a malfunctioning space heater was the cause of the deadly fire. He says the space heater was being used to supplement building heat. Smoke alarms were operable, ABC7 reported.
At least 63 people were injured, with 32 sustaining "life-threatening" injuries and 13 "clinging to their lives" in nearby hospitals, according to Nigro. The predominant injury for the 32 victims was severe smoke inhalation.
"This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed here in modern times in the city of New York," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at the press conference.
Firefighters arrived on site three minutes after the initial fire call and were met with fire in the hallway of the building.
Victims were found in the stairwells, according to the commissioner, as smoke extended the height of the building.
Videos from the scene showed flames and smoke billowing out a third-story window as people climbed down a ladder mounted by rescuers.
A resident cited by the Post commented that the high death toll might be partially due to a fire alarm that goes off “all the time,” claiming “people on the third, fourth, fifth (floors) went about their day until they saw smoke.”
Fire Department Chief Daniel Nigro said victims were found on “every floor” and were being taken out “in cardiac and respiratory arrest,” calling the situation “unprecedented in our city.”
The death toll of 19 makes Sunday’s blaze the worst in over three decades and the deadliest since a fire at Bronx nightclub Happy Land killed 87 people in 1990. The unexpected tragedy came just days into the new year, after a 2021 in which fire fatalities jumped 16% in New York City, according to FDNY data.
