The Bronx fire killed 19 including children. The deadly fire was sparked by a Space Heater. Read to know more details about the unfortunate incident.
New York City Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro said a malfunctioning electric space heater caused the Bronx apartment fire that killed 19 people, including nine children, and injured more than thirty others Sunday morning.
New York’s deadliest fire in three decades started from the malfunctioning space heater and filled the Bronx apartment building with thick smoke on Sunday. The fire consumed the apartment and part of the hallway.
The flame broke around 11. 00 on 10th January on east 181 st street in the Fordham heights sections inside a bedroom. The late-morning fire quickly became uncontrollable because a door in the two-level second-floor unit where the blaze started was either left open or did not automatically close after the occupants of the bedroom fled. This caused the smoke to spread all over the apartment, the hallway, and the stairwell.
“The marshals have determined through physical evidence, through firsthand accounts from the residents, that this fire started in a bedroom in a portable electric heater,” Nigro said at an evening news conference.
The heater was used to supplement the building’s heat, which he indicated was working at the time. The functionality of fire alarms, however, was under investigation
The blaze grew to five alarms and sent at least thirty survivors to the hospital. A second open door most likely allowed deadly smoke to spread throughout the building, Nigro said.
The Bronx fire was reported by a neighbor, who saw black fumes coming out of the windows. Authorities were called to the scene at about 11 a.m. and managed to contain the flames at around 1 p.m. they rushed to the place and did their maximum.
Firefighters and residents quickly faced deadly levels of smoke, with firefighters running out of oxygen as they made rescues in the 19-story structure, which has 120 units, Nigro said.
Nigro said that approximately 250 firefighters rushed to help. But many of them ran out of air, but still, they held up their spirits and continued to save people amidst the black fumes. Many of the residents who died or who were taken to hospitals were likely to have been affected by smoke, he said. “I think some of them could not escape because of the volume of smoke,” he said.
He added that the Bronx fire can be very traumatizing for the firefighter. Some of them looked anguished in their response. Asked earlier about the rumors that residents may have jumped out of windows,
Nigro said it was possible that some “might have fallen from the building” trying to get onto ladders placed by firefighters. He said he had not heard reports of anyone having jumped before firefighters arrived.
“The last time we had a loss of life that may be this horrific was at a fire which was over 30 years ago, also here in the Bronx,” Nigro said.
Unfortunately, the 19-story residential building had no proper fire escapes. So residents used the stairwell, and when the fire department came they saw many residents struggling for breath in the hallway as well as on the stairwell.
Commissioner Nigro said that for certain buildings of a certain size there is no requirement for fire escapes. So, in this case, you need to rely on the fire alarm system. Residents complained that the fire alarm system was not working properly, so they didn’t think it was a real fire. They understood the real situation only when people began to yell and howl in the hallway.
Temporary stays are provided at the local hotels for the residents of the apartments.
The fire department reported that most of the hospitalized people had life-threatening conditions and serious injuries.
Many residents of the 120 unit building are from west African nations like Gambia and Guinea. Many of them belong to middle-class families. The authority said that they will get assistance for housing and burial costs
