The fire was started by a malfunctioning space heater. Heavy smoke quickly filled the building and its interior stairwells, overwhelming residents as they attempted to flee.
Building residents can be seen in open windows after firefighters arrived at the scene of the blaze on Sunday morning. Photo: Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News via Getty Images A five-alarm fire at a 120-unit apartment building in the Bronx on Sunday morning left at least 19 people dead, including nine children. More than 60 people were hurt, half of whom suffered life-threatening injuries.
Nigro blamed the volume of smoke for why residents could not escape through the building’s interior stairwells. Firefighters worked to pull trapped people from the building, even working after air tanks had run out. First responders “tried diligently to revive” those who died of smoke inhalation, but could not save them all. “We’re all about saving lives, the loss of one life is sad for us, let alone 19 lives,” he said, adding that the department’s counselors would be “very busy.
A victim being helped by a first responder. Photo: Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News via Getty Images Hochul said she witnessed first hand the human cost when she visited a reunification center nearby. “It is impossible to go into that room where scores of families, who are in such grief, such pain, to see it in a mother’s eyes as I held her, who lost her entire family. It’s hard to fathom what they’re going through.
“I called 911 three times they tell us to put towels at the door but I couldn’t get to the door. It was too black. It was black, you couldn’t see nothing. So I had to put down a lot of towels at my bedroom door.” Jacobs’ brother pushed an air conditioner out of a bedroom window in an attempt to get oxygen flowing through the apartment before firefighters searching for trapped residents found the siblings.
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