NEW YORK (USA): At least 19 people have died, including nine children → in a catastrophic fire that broke out in a high-rise building in the Bronx on Sunday, January 9, 2022.
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200 firefighters on site
About 200 firefighters battled the five-alarm fire that broke out at a third-floor duplex of a 19-story skyscraper at 333 East 181st Street in the Tremont section of the Bronx just before 11 a.m. Sunday.
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Open apartment door smoky building
A “faulty electrical space heater” was the cause of the fire, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said during a news conference. The heater was in the bedroom of an apartment. The fire first smoked the room and then the whole apartment, he said.
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The apartment door was left open and smoke spread throughout the building as residents exited their apartment, Nigro said.
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Victims in the stairwell of many floors
At least 63 people were injured, 32 suffered “life-threatening” injuries and 13 “hung on for life” in nearby hospitals, according to Nigro. Victims were found in stairways on each floor of the building, many in cardiac arrest. Most of the injuries were caused by smoke inhalation, he said.
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19 people killed, including 9 children in tragic Bronx apartment building fire. It’s one of the worst fire disasters in New York City history. pic.twitter.com/TWzjaJSRhW
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 9, 2022
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Rescue attempts in spite of air shortages
Firefighters continued to try to extricate people from the building even though the air tanks ran out, Nigro said. Some of the residents who tried to leave the building “could not escape because of the amount of smoke”.
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One resident, Sandra Crayton, said she ran for her life when she saw the hallway fill with black smoke and heard people screaming, “Get out! Out!”. The 61-year-old felt her way down the dark stairs and held onto her dog. The thick smoke meant she couldn’t see because of her screams, but could hear other tenants nearby. Her dog Mokka slipped out of her arms and was later found dead. “I just ran down the steps as much as I could but people fell over me and screamed,” she said.
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At first thought it was a false alarm
Another resident, Luis Rosa, initially thought it was a false alarm, but he and his mother began to worry after a notification popped up on his phone. The smoke had started coming into his 13th floor apartment. He could then hear the sirens in the distance. He opened the front door, but the smoke was too thick to escape, he said.
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“When I opened the door I couldn’t even see that far down the hall. So I said, OK, we can’t walk down the stairs because if we walk down the stairs, we’re going to end up suffocating. “All we could do was wait.”
Those in the vicinity were advised by New York City’s Emergency Management Department to close their windows to avoid smoke inhalation.
One of New York’s worst fires
“This will be one of the worst fires we have seen here in the City of New York in modern times,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at the news conference. “We lost 19 of our neighbors today. It is a tragedy beyond measure. Pray with me for those we have lost, especially the nine innocent young lives that have been cut short,” he added on Twitter.
“I am appalled by the wildfire in the Bronx today,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Twitter. “My heart is with the loved ones of all those we have tragically lost, everyone affected and our heroic FDNY firefighters. All of New York State stands with New York City.”
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120 residential units in the building
The unit where the fire occurred is 50 years old and has 120 units according to building records. There were no major building violations or complaints against the building, according to the city’s building records. Previous minor breaches have been remedied by the real estate company and no structural breaches have been reported.
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A few days earlier, a house fire killed 13 people in Philadelphia
The fire comes just days after a house fire in Philadelphia killed 13 people – including seven children. A boy is believed to have lit a Christmas tree on January 5, 2022 and the smoke detectors apparently did not work. See also: USA: smoke detectors failed → House fire in Philadelphia with 13 dead (including 7 children) → Boy lit the Christmas tree
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