On Thursday, Dec. 28 a fire erupted on the first floor of an apartment building in the Bronx, killing 12 people. The fire started when a three-year-old child was playing with the burners on a stove top.
This was the deadliest fire in New York City in more than 25 years, according to a CNN article.
The apartments stairwell acted as “a chimney” when the fire broke out into the building, according to FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
The boy who started the fire had a history of playing with the stove burners, according to Nigro, who reminded New Yorkers the importance of taking preventative measures in the event of a fire.
“Close the door, close the door, close the door,” Nigro said. When the flames erupted, the boy’s mother escaped the apartment with her two children, but forgot to close the door behind her. This allowed the fire to travel through the stairway.
There were seven firefighters injured in the fire and seven civilians injured. Four of those civilians are in critical condition, according to the fire department.
A local school opened its doors for those displaced by the fire to seek shelter. Twelve of the people in the apartment complex were rescued and are expected to survive, according to CNN.
The last deadly NYC fire was in 1990, in which 87 people were killed at the Happy Land Social Club when a fire broke out. Then in 2007, a space heater overheating caused another fire in a Bronx residence which killed 10 people, nine of which were children.
Mayor de Blasio told CNN on Friday, “This is a terrible tragedy in the middle of the holidays. When people are trying to be with their families and have a moment of peace finally and having something like this happen to people in the Bronx is just horrible.”
