It is “one of the worst fires in our history”, lamented the new mayor of New York, Eric Adams, after an accidental fire in a building in the popular district of the Bronx, in New York, on Sunday, January 9. Smoke from a burning auxiliary heater spread to all floors of the red brick building. The balance sheet shows 17 dead, including eight children, and more than sixty injured.
A backup heater at the origin of the fire
At around 11 a.m. on Sunday January 9, firefighters were called to 181st Street East in Fordham Heights, Bronx. Huge flames and thick black smoke then billowed out of a window on the second story of the 19-story building. After the fire broke out in an apartment located “on the second and third floors”, the 200 firefighters dispatched to the site “found themselves facing the fire in the corridors”, with “a lot of smoke” and “a very heavy fire”, explained the New York Fire Chief (FDNY), Daniel Nigro, on the spot.
#BREAKING: Over 41 people have been seriously injured in a residential building fire in the Bronx, New York. Over 200 FDNY members are on scene. pic.twitter.com/qCXT2KU7B8
– Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) January 9, 2022
According to the first “material clues and the first testimonies of inhabitants”, “the fire started from a bedroom and an auxiliary heater”, said Daniel Nigro, during a press point on Sunday including ABC News (in English) echoed. If the fire never exceeded “the unit [appartement] and the corridor to the nearest apartment “, the smoke generated by the fire spread throughout the building, which has 120 apartments.
“The door to this apartment, unfortunately, when the residents left, remained open, it did not close on its own. The smoke spread throughout the building, which explains the enormous loss of life. . “
Daniel Nigro, New York Fire Chiefduring a press point
The investigation will have to determine why the smoke has invaded “so fast” the whole building while the smoke detectors were on. It was also a resident of the 16th floor, Guillermo Sanchez, who alerted the firefighters when he smelled an intense smell of smoke, before finding out when opening his door that the smoke was preventing him from leaving the premises, reports again ABC News.
A provisional toll of 17 dead and 60 injured
Firefighters “found victims on every floor and in the stairwells” and evacuated them. Some were “in a state of cardiac and respiratory arrest”, detailed the FDNY on Instagram (in English). Arrived on the spot, the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, shared a provisional assessment of “19 people died as well as several others in critical condition with more than 63 people injured”. Later in the day, the mayor corrected this record, announcing that 17 people died, including nine children and adolescents.
We’ve lost 19 of our neighbors today. It’s a tragedy beyond measure. Join me in praying for those we lost, especially the 9 innocent young lives that were cut short. https://t.co/YWQyBLyLK8
– Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) January 9, 2022
As for the wounded, “32 people were transported to hospitals in life-threatening condition. This is unheard of in our city,” completed the fire chief.
Children who “cried for help”
Several residents of the building have testified to AFP, such as 38-year-old Dilenny Rodriguez. Although she is safe and sound with her whole family, she thinks to herself “devastated” by what she saw and heard. “Many children were crying and screaming ‘Help, help, help!'”, she reports, after hearing them from her window, which she opened to avoid suffocation.
The smoke was “so thick that you couldn’t breathe, as if you were suffocating”, assures Michael Joseph, a thirty-something from the building. Another resident on the 11th floor, Miguel Enrique, “asthmatic”, recounts having just had time to “take a coat and go down by the elevator” the corridor was so black with smoke.
George King, who lives across the street, describes scenes from “chaos”. He reports having seen “a lot of panicked people” at home windows and a “person (who) wanted to jump from the building “.
A support fund created
It’s a “real tragedy, not just for the Bronx and the city”, lamented the mayor of New York. This former African-American policeman took office on January 1, at the head of a city hit, in various neighborhoods, by a huge housing crisis, with buildings and apartments often dilapidated and poorly maintained. In this same district of the Bronx, in December 2017, a fire had killed 12 people including four children. It had been provoked by a three-and-a-half-year-old child playing with a gas stove.
Today, the urgency is to relocate the inhabitants of the burnt down building. Fundraising (link in English), in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and New York City, was launched to help them. The donations collected should allow the distribution of emergency relief supplies and provide support to the victims and their families.
On Twitter, New York Governor Katy Hochul told all of the fire victims: “We will not abandon you. We won’t forget you. We’re here for you.” Bronx Park Phase III Preservation LLC, owner of the building, said it was “devastated by the unimaginable loss of life caused by this profound tragedy” and fully cooperate with firefighters and the city as part of the investigation to determine the reasons for the disaster, reports ABC news.