Malfunctioning space heater sparked Bronx apartment fire, city's deadliest blaze in decades

At least 19 people, including nine children, were killed in a fire Sunday at a Bronx apartment complex caused by a malfunctioning portable space heater, the city's deadliest in more than 30 years.

New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the fire "started in a malfunctioning electric space heater" in a bedroom of a duplex apartment on the second and third floors of the 19-story Twin Parks North West complex in New York City's West Bronx. Negro said the apartment door had been left open, causing smoke to quickly spread throughout the building.

New York Mayor Eric Adams told a news conference that as of Sunday evening, 13 people were hospitalized in serious condition. Altogether more than five dozen people were injured. Negro said most of the victims had severe smoke.

Stephen Ringel, a senior adviser to Adams, told the Associated Press that the children killed were 16 years of age or younger. According to Negro, victims were found on every floor of the building.

“There are no fire escapes in buildings like this, there are internal stairs,” confirmed Negro. "The residents should know where the stairs are. I think some of them couldn't escape because of the amount of smoke."

The fire department said more than 200 members responded at the scene. The fire was brought under control by 1:27 pm, officials said. ET.

According to Negro, fire marshals determined the cause of the fire to the space heater through physical evidence and direct accounts.

"This is a terrifying, epic, painful moment for New York City," Adams said on Sunday. "The impact of this fire is really going to bring a level of pain and despair to our city. The numbers are appalling."

Adams said: "This is going to be one of the deadliest fires we've seen during modern times here in New York City."

Building resident Luis Rosa said he was woken by a fire alarm on Sunday, but dismissed it at first, thinking it was one of the building's periodic false alarms.

But when a notification came on his phone, he and his mother started worrying. By then, smoke started rising in his 13th-floor apartment and he heard sirens from afar.

He said he opened the front door, but the smoke was so thick that no one could escape.

"Once I opened the door, I couldn't even look down the hallway," Rosa told the Associated Press. "So I said, well, we can't run down the stairs because if we run down the stairs, we're going to suffocate."

"We could only wait," he said.

Another resident, Vernesa Cunningham, said she walked home from the church after receiving an alert on her cellphone that the building was on fire.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was in shock," said Cunningham, 60, from a nearby school where some residents had gathered. "I could see my apartment. The windows were all cracked. And I could see the flames coming from behind the building."

The 120-unit building in the Twin Park North West complex was built in 1973 as part of a project to create modern, affordable housing in the Bronx.

Approximately 200 FDNY members are operating on scene of a 5-alarm fire at 333 East 181 Street in the Bronx. There are currently 31 serious injuries to civilians. pic.twitter.com/yrTYwOfonH

— FDNY (@FDNY) January 9, 2022

According to Negro, the fire in the Bronx had not been this "terrible" since the Happy Lands fire in 1990 that killed 87 people. Sunday's disaster was the biggest loss of life in the city's fire since that fire.

Sunday's fire was also the deadliest in a US residential apartment building since 2017, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association, when 13 people died in an apartment building in the Bronx.

Adams praised the responding firefighters, noting that some ran out of oxygen in their tanks while attempting to rescue the victims.

"Some of these firefighters, their oxygen tanks were empty and they were still pushing through the smoke," Adams said. "If you don't feel connected to the city in this community, you can't, and I really want to thank them for putting their lives on the line to save lives."

Adams said schools would remain open and people displaced by the fire would be taken there to be reunited with families. He said the community was a "highly immigrant community", and government officials would work to help affected families find temporary and permanent housing.

According to Adams, those seeking aid were sent to the U.S. Will not be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. pledged to provide as much assistance as possible at the federal level, including housing and tax assistance as well as immigration assistance for those in need.

Schumer said, "When a tragedy happens we come together, we don't care about ideology, we don't care about race, creed, color, religion. We come together, we hug each other." and say we are for it." Helping New Yorkers who need help."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she plans to establish a Victim's Compensation Fund with the aim of providing new housing for victims' families and covering burial costs.

"We'll take care of them because that's what we do here in New York state," Hochul said. "We are here for the Bronx, and we are here for anyone who needs us."

Bronx City President Vanessa Gibson said the American Red Cross would provide food and blankets to affected families.

"We're going to take care of every single resident here in Twin Park," Gibson said. "We want to assure everyone that we will not leave you. This is devastating for all of us."

A fire broke out in the Bronx when a lithium-ion battery in an electric bike or scooter triggered a four-alarm fire in another part of the Bronx on Saturday morning, resulting in minor injuries to a firefighter.

On Wednesday, 12 people, including eight children, were killed in a house fire in Philadelphia.