NEW YORK — The deadliest New York City fire in decades killed at least 19 Bronx building residents Sunday, including nine children, FDNY sources said.
The five-alarm blaze broke out about 10:54 a.m. in a duplex apartment spanning the second and third floors of the 19-story building in Fordham Heights.
“This is a horrific, horrific, painful moment for the city of New York and the impact of this fire is going to really bring a level of just pain and despair in our city,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the scene.
Firefighters arrived within three minutes, their ranks soon swelling to 200 to battle the blaze at 333 E. 181st St. near Tiebout Avenue, FDNY officials said. It was brought under control at 1:26 p.m.
”They were met in the hallway with this fire,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at the scene. “Very heavy smoke, very heavy fire. “This smoke extended the entire height of the building — completely unusual. Members found victims on every floor, in stairwells, and were taking them out in cardiac and respiratory arrest.
“There were certainly people trapped in their apartments all through this building, which is why our members did an unbelievable job of getting through every floor of this building and getting to these folks,” he added. “But some of them were already in arrest when we reached them.”
Medics rushed 32 people with life-threatening injuries and three with serious injuries to five local hospitals, officials said. Nineteen people had minor injuries and were treated at the scene. All of the victims suffered severe smoke inhalation, Nigro said.
Nineteen victims have died, a high-ranking FDNY official said.
“That is unprecedented in our city,” Nigro said. “The last time we had a loss of life that may be this horrific was at Happy Land fire over 30 years ago, also here in the Bronx.”
On March 25, 1990, an arsonist used a can of gasoline to set fire the Happy Land Social Club at 1959 Southern Blvd. in East Tremont. The resulting inferno killed 87 panic-stricken clubgoers, half of them under 25. It was the deadliest city blaze in 79 years.
After Sunday’s blaze broke out, Anthony Romero, 40, a resident of the 12th floor, woke up his pregnant wife and two children.
“I walked to my door and opened it. A huge cloud of black smoke came in so I closed the door,” Romero said. “We put a wet towel under the door. I went to the back window and I checked and that’s when I saw the smoke coming out the third floor apartment.”
Romero, who’s asthmatic, remained in his apartment until firefighters banged on the door, signaling it was safe for the family to evacuate.
“I had no choice, there was too much smoke in the hallways, there was no way I was gonna leave my apartment and make it from the 12th floor to the first floor and live. So just the smoke hitting me alone … I’m spitting out black, but I’m good.”
Romero recounted his neighbor’s grief as she was forced to leave her dog to die. He saw firefighters on each floor as his family made their way through thick smoke to the ground floor.
“It was black everywhere,” he said of the overwhelming smoke. “Black everywhere.”
Tysena Jacobs, a 15th-floor resident, was trapped in her apartment with two siblings.
“We couldn’t get out,” Jacobs, 69, said. “I called 911 three times they tell us to put towels at the door but I couldn’t get to the door. It was too black. It was black, you couldn’t see nothing. So I had to put down a lot of towels at my bedroom door.”
Jacobs’ brother pushed an air conditioner out of a bedroom window in an attempt to get oxygen flowing through the apartment before firefighters searching for trapped residents found the siblings.
“I was praying to ask God to help us and get us out of this building safely,” Jacobs said. “I live here over 30 years. They have fires but nothing like this. This is the first time anything like ever happened.”
Hours after the fire was put out, Ousman Tunkara, 28, stared up at the building’s 19th floor where his 3-year-old niece lived. He learned from a family member the toddler did not survive the blaze.
“She was a baby,” Tunkara said. “I’m sad. ... I’m sad.”
Tunkara was still trying to get in touch with his sister and brother-in-law Sunday evening.
More than 40 people were rescued from the burning building, FDNY sources said.
“How the fire started, we don’t know yet. It will be investigated,” Nigro said. “It is not suspicious at this point.
“What I do know, and we’ve stressed this over and over, the door to that apartment was left open causing the fire to spread and the smoke to spread,” Nigro added.
The building includes multiple units converted into duplexes and has spaces hard to reach for firefighters. It was built in 1972, city records show.
“It was at a building that was built under federal guidelines way back when so it’s not up to New York City fire codes,” said Andrew Ansbro, president of the the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association union.
He said the building design, particularly the “scissor stairs” where two stairways crisscross each other in the same stairwell, made it take longer to stretch hose through the building.
Public records show the building has multiple open violations for mouse and roach infestations, peeling lead paint and water leaks. One open complaint with city Housing Preservation and Development makes reference to defective fire retardant material in a first-floor ceiling.
“I am horrified by the devastating fire in the Bronx today,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “The entire State of New York stands with New York City.”
On Dec. 28, 2017, a fire started by a boy playing with a stove raged through an apartment building at 2363 Prospect Ave. in Belmont, killing four children and eight adults. A 13th victim died at the hospital several days later.
That fire spread because the boy’s mother didn’t close the door as she ran out of her burning apartment, allowing the flames to spread up the stairs and throughout the building.
It was the worst fatal fire in the city in a quarter-century.
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