New York (VG) – One of the worst fires we’ve seen in modern New York, says Mayor Eric Adams.
Local authorities confirmed that 19 people were killed after a fire broke out in an apartment building in the Bronx borough of New York City on Sunday.
Nine of the dead are children, New York Mayor Eric Adams confirms, according to, among other things, the news agency. AP And CNN.
Thirteen people have been hospitalized in critical condition, according to the Associated Press.
– The mayor said during a press conference on Sunday: – This will be one of the worst fires we have seen in the modern era in New York.
– It started in a broken heater
At least 63 people were injured in the fire.
Most of the injured were caught in thick smoke, said Dan Negro, the New York fire commissioner.
Negro stated that the fire originated in a broken electric heater, late Sunday night Norwegian time.
The fire brigade received reports of the fire just before 11 am local time.
Fire investigators believe the fire broke out in an apartment on the second and third floors of the building. The apartment door was left open, and the fire spread and smoke penetrated the building.
Many of the apartments in the apartment building have been converted into smaller rooms, which has made the firefighting process difficult, says a spokesperson for the fire service.
“People were trapped in their apartments across the building,” Negro said on Sunday.
Firefighters found injured people on nearly every floor of the building, many of whom were in cardiac and respiratory arrest. About 200 firefighters worked at the site on Sunday.
VG on site: serious damage
Since VG is on site just before 16:00 local time, the streets leading into the building have been closed off by the police.
Some of the windows in the building were shattered, including the windows stretching several floors to the top. From some windows hang carpets that may indicate the presence of people who have tried to get out.
A VG journalist on the site also describes that there was extensive damage to the building.
smoke smell
VG meets Julia Fowler in the building. She lives on the ninth floor and goes out in peace with her family.
“I was at home with the family and we smelled smoke,” she continues, saying they covered the doors first with towels.
In the end I went out with the kids. Her cats ran away.
Fowler described that they were walking on the ground, and it was dark, wet, and full of glass.
– I’m shivering, but thank God we’re fine. She told VG it could have been a lot worse.
Outside the building, Tiffany Diaz also stands with her son, Mason. They live on the ground floor. Diaz was cooking when she suddenly smelled strong smoke.
You go out and you see a lot of smoke.
– I got scared, took my son and went out.
Only then did she see that it was burning.
She was told that now that the fire had been extinguished, she could re-enter the apartment, but she had not yet done so.
– I’m still a little scared, she says.
One of the five boroughs in New York City, the Bronx is the poorest of the five boroughs.
Nearly 32 years ago, the same neighborhood in New York saw one of its worst fires, with 87 deaths.
On Wednesday, 13 people were killed when a fire broke out in a municipal apartment building in Philadelphia, USA, on Wednesday of this week. Seven of them were children.
He writes that it was the most dangerous fire in Philadelphia in over 100 years ABC 6.
The fire may have started when a five-year-old was playing with a lighter, which may have set a Christmas tree on fire. There are said to be four smoke alarms in the building, which are owned by the Philadelphia housing authorities, but none were in use.
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