Malfunctioning space heater blamed in Bronx fire that killed 10 adults, 9 children
At least 30 were hospitalized, many with smoke inhalation, officials said.
Malfunctioning space heater : 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 dozens of others Sunday morning.
The late-morning fire quickly expanded because a door in the two-level second-floor unit where the blaze started was left open or did not automatically close after residents fled, he said.
“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, he said, 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.
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.
“They ran out of air, many of our members, and they continued working to get as many people out as they could,” he said.
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.
About 200 firefighters responded to the blaze on East 181st Street, the fire department said. Authorities were called to the scene at about 11 a.m. and managed to contain the flames at around 1 p.m., NBC New York reported.
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’s having jumped before firefighters arrived.
News Source : nbcnews.com
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