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BRONX, NY (77WABC) – A catastrophic fire in the Bronx that killed 17 people — including 8 children and left dozens more injured — was caused by an electric space heater, according to fire officials.
The five-alarm blaze broke out at 333 E 181st St, a 19-story building in the West Bronx, according to the FDNY. New York City officials are calling the fire one of the city’s worst in over 30 years.
Among the dead is a 4-year old, according to police sources.
In a press conference Sunday evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state would establish a victim’s compensation fund for those impacted by the fire. Said Hochul: “We are indeed a city in shock. It’s impossible to go into that room, where scores of families, who are in such grief, who are in pain, to see in a mother’s eyes as I held her, who lost her entire family … it’s hard to fathom what they are going through.”
In response to the tragic fire in the Bronx, we're raising funds to support the victims.
To learn more and donate, click here:https://t.co/h3VQKS0P7g pic.twitter.com/XfcbsaO8Uo
— NYC Mayor's Fund (@NYCMayorsFund) January 10, 2022
The commissioner of the New York City Fire Department said he expects “numerous fatalities” after identifying at least 63 people with varying levels of injuries from smoke and fire. At least 32 people were taken to at least five different hospitals in the borough with life-threatening injuries; another nine are serious. 19 people are in critical condition.
The overwhelming majority of the fire’s victims are suffering from severe smoke inhalation, FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro said. Firefighters rushing into the building discovered victims on all nearly every floor of the building — many found experiencing cardiac and respiratory arrest.
Mayor Eric Adams was on the scene Sunday, calling the fire “a horrific, horrific painful moment for the City of New York.”
“The impact of this fire is going to really bring a level of pain and despair in this city,” Adams said at a press conference. “This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed in the City of New York in modern times.”
Firefighters “found victims on every floor and were taking them out in cardiac and respiratory arrest,” he said at an afternoon briefing. “That is unprecedented in our city. We expect there to be numerous fatalities.”
According to the FDNY, approximately 200 firefighters responded to the scene Sunday at the Twin Park apartments, a 19-story building on East 181st Street.
According to Nigro, Sunday’s fire originated in a duplex apartment spanning the second and third floors. Firefighters found the door to the apartment open, he said, which apparently allowed the fire to accelerate and spread smoke upward quickly.
Fire marshals are still investigating further.
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