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New York apartment fire: at least six people killed in Bronx New York apartment fire: at least 12 people killed in Bronx
(about 1 hour later)
At least six people have died in a blaze at a Bronx apartment building on a frigid night, and several more have been injured, a spokesman for the New York City mayor has said. At least 12 people, including a child, have died in a blaze at a Bronx apartment building on a frigid night, New York City’s mayor has said.
The eventual toll remained uncertain, said press secretary Eric Phillips. The Fire Department of New York said earlier that 15 people were seriously injured in the fire near the Bronx Zoo on Thursday night. Bill de Blasio said one of the victims was a child aged about one. Other residents of the building were fighting for their lives with serious injuries, he said.
About 170 firefighters are at the five-storey, walk-up apartment house. Mayor Bill de Blasio also plans to head there. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro called the fire, “historic in its magnitude”, because of the number of lives lost. “Our hearts go out to every person who lost a loved one here and everyone who is fighting for their lives,” he said.
The fire was reported just before 7pm at a five-storey building a block from the Bronx Zoo.
About 170 firefighters worked in bone-chilling cold, just 15 degrees, to rescue people from the building. Water sprayed from hoses froze into ice on the street.
The fire began on the first floor just before 7pm and quickly ripped through much of the building, officials said.
Neighborhood resident Robert Gonzalez, who has a friend who lives in the building, said she got out on a fire escape as another resident fled with five children. “When I got here, she was crying,” Gonzalez said.
Windows on some upper floors were smashed and blackened. “The smoke was crazy, people screaming, ‘Get out!,” a witness, Jamal Flicker, told the New York Post. “I heard a woman yelling, ‘We’re trapped, help!”
According to city records, the building had no elevator. Fire escapes were visible on the facade of the building.
One of the deadliest fires in recent city memory happened elsewhere in the Bronx in 2007. Nine children and one adult died in a blaze sparked by a space heater.
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About 170 firefighters fought the fire and rescued fleeing tenants, working in temperatures in the teens.
Temperatures are in the teens in New York, with winds making it feel like single digits.Temperatures are in the teens in New York, with winds making it feel like single digits.
One of the deadliest fires in recent memory happened elsewhere in the Bronx, in 2007. Nine children and one adult died in a blaze sparked by a space heater.One of the deadliest fires in recent memory happened elsewhere in the Bronx, in 2007. Nine children and one adult died in a blaze sparked by a space heater.