Space Heater Sparks 5-Alarm Bronx Apartment Fire, Kills 19

At least 19 dead, including 9 children, in Bronx fire, sparked by an electric space heater.

A malfunctioning electric space heater caused the Bronx apartment fire that killed 19 people, including nine children, and injured dozens of others, according to New York City Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro.

The late-morning Sunday fire quickly expanded because a door in the two-level second-floor unit where the blaze started was either 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.

The blaze grew to five alarms and sent at least 30 survivors to the hospital

A second open door most likely allowed deadly smoke to spread throughout the building, Nigro said.

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.

“The last time we had a loss of life that may be this horrific was at a fire which was over 30 years ago, also here in the Bronx,” Nigro said.

The fire department initially reported that many, if not most, of those who were hospitalized had life-threatening conditions.

New York City Department of Buildings spokesman Andrew Rudansky said late Sunday that multiple apartments on the third floor had been damaged by fire and would have to remain vacated. A preliminary assessment found the rest of the building was “stable,” he said in a statement.

“The fire did not affect the structural integrity of the building,” Rudansky said.

Nigro said the building, which was built in 1972 under the auspices of the federal government, did not have fire escapes, only internal stairwells. Because of its federal origins, he said, “it was potentially built outside the New York City fire code.”

Source: NBC News, “Malfunctioning space heater blamed in Bronx fire that killed 10 adults, 9 children,” Jan. 9, 2022, 2:11 pm EST, by Doha Madani and Dennis Romero.

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