In New York City, on Sunday 9 children among 19 people were killed when an apartment fire started by a malfunctioning space heater sent smoke billowing through a Bronx high-rise. It is in the deadliest fire New York City had seen in more than three decades.
The smoke from the fire spread to the top of the 19-storey building, darkening hallways and stairwells and shocking residents who had heard the fire alarms but did not immediately react because they had grown accustomed to frequent alarms in the building.
The fire commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said at a news conference at the scene that in addition 44 people were injured of which the condition of 13 from them were critical after the occupants of the third-floor apartment where the fire started fled without closing the door behind them. He said that firefighters found victims on every floor and worked to rescue them even as their own oxygen tanks ran low.
Dana Campbell was summoned home by her four children when smoke began seeping into their apartment. She arrived as they leapt out of a third-floor window onto a makeshift landing pad, and was relieved to see they were not harmed. Thirty people remained in the hospital. He urged all of the injured and displaced victims to seek help and assured those who may be undocumented that their information would not be passed along to federal immigration authorities.
A city official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the fire was still under investigation, said fire marshals believe the space heater had been running for several days uninterrupted. The residents were using the heater to supplement the building’s heat, which was on.