Late on Sunday evening, the New York Fire Department expressed an initial suspicion: The devastating fire in a residential building in the Bronx, in which 19 people were killed, including nine children, was probably caused by a portable fan heater. 63 people were admitted to five surrounding hospitals with burns and, above all, smoke inhalation. According to the city, 13 of them are in critical condition.
“Those numbers are terrible,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams, “this is one of the worst fires we have seen in the city in recent times.”
Just under a week ago, twelve people were killed in a house fire in Philadelphia, including eight children. The cause of the fire in this case was suspected to be that one of the children had played with a lighter near the Christmas tree. As in New York, the fire broke out in an area where the poorer people predominate.
There are many buildings in the Bronx like the one now on East 181st Street. It is 19 stories high, built in 1972, and comprises 120 units, including four-room apartments as well as tiny studio apartments. Most of these apartments are subsidized by the city. For many people, this is the only chance of finding a reasonably affordable apartment on the brutal New York rental market. The price for this is that security is not always the best in these buildings. In any case, it is probably no coincidence that such cases in New York do not occur in affluent neighborhoods like the Upper East Side in Manhattan, but in the Bronx, where many immigrants live.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a press conference outside the affected building.
(Photo: Jeenah Moon / AP)
Almost exactly four years ago, in December 2017, 13 people were killed in a fire in a residential building in the Bronx. At the time, it was the deadliest fire in New York in a quarter of a century. At the time, the authorities determined that the cause of the fire was that a three-year-old child had been playing around on a gas stove.
The fatal fire that Sunday is known to have broken out at 11 a.m. in a two-story apartment on the second and third floors of the building. Apparently, the residents left the front door open when they escaped, which caused the flames and smoke to spread rapidly throughout the building.
Fire chief Daniel Nigro said on Sunday: “Again and again we say: Close the door, close the door to curb the spread of the fire!” In fact, many of the people living in New York receive an email once a year explaining what to look out for in the event of a fire. Closing the doors is always emphasized.
Sacrifice on every floor
According to their own statements, the fire brigade was at the building after three minutes on Sunday. Although around 200 firefighters were on duty, it took almost four hours to extinguish all of the flames. Fire chief Nigro said firefighters found victims on every floor. Some have suffered heart attacks, some have been seriously smoke inhaled.
A father who ran back to his burning apartment after discovering one of his daughters was not with the family burned himself loudly New York Times Nose and lips. After all, the eight-year-old daughter and father survived.
Oswald Feliz, the local MP in the city parliament, said it hit “the poorest New Yorkers”. These are now faced not only with the problem of finding new apartments, but apartments whose rents are controlled in the same way by the city. There are actually fewer and fewer of them. Anyone who has found an apartment in New York with a rent fixed by the city usually never moves out.
What might give hope to the residents of the burned building: It belongs to the Camber Property Group. This specializes in creating affordable housing for people with little money. So the owners aren’t some of the most brutal New York real estate sharks who raise the rent every time the wind changes direction.
For Eric Adams, who took office just a few days ago, the fire in the Bronx is the first major test. He has promised that he will be there for the victims of the fire. He will ensure that they find adequate and affordable housing again. A promise that will not be easy to keep in New York, whose real estate market is already completely at its limit despite the aftermath of the pandemic.