REVEALED: New York City’s worst blaze in 25 years started on the first floor ‘after gas leak’ and ripped through the building in SECONDS – leaving a baby dead in her mother’s arms – months after city found broken smoke detectors inside
At least 12 people have been killed and 15 more injured in Bronx apartment building fire in New York City
Blaze started shortly before 7pm in a first-floor apartment at East 185th Street and Prospect Avenue
Four of the victims are children,including a one-year-old who died in its mothers arms in their apartment
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that four of the 15 injured are in critical condition and fighting for their lives
Blaze quickly spread up to the fifth floor apartment and it took 170 firefighters to put fire out
FDNY’s fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said it was too soon to know what caused the massive fire
According to city records, building had at least six open code violations – two from August 2017
Two of the violations were for defective smoke and carbon monoxide detectors inside a first-floor apartment
Investigators say a natural gas line may have fueled the flames of the horrific blaze
By Valerie Edwards and Regina F. Graham
DailyMail.com
29 December 2017
Investigators in New York City searched early on Friday for the cause of a fast-moving blaze that ripped through an apartment building in the Bronx and killed at least 12 people, including four children, and left 15 others injured.
Officials say the youngest victim in the fire that destroyed an apartment building near the Bronx Zoo is a one-year-old girl who died in a bathtub being held by her mother, who also perished in the blaze.
The other three children who died were two girls aged two and seven and an unidentified boy. Three women aged 19, 37 and 63 have also been identified by police, according to the New York Post.
The five-alarm fire broke out a little before 7pm on the first floor of a brick building at East 185th Street and Prospect Avenue and quickly spread upstairs, city Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said alongside New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio during a press conference.
The cause of the city’s deadliest fire in at least a quarter of a century was under investigation. Investigators said a natural gas line may have fueled the flames of the blaze.
According to the New York City Housing Preservation and Development, there are at least six open building code violations. Two violations reported in August 2017 were for a broken smoke detector and for a defective carbon monoxide detector in the same apartment on the first floor. It was not clear if the detector had been fixed or replaced or whether it had played any role in the fire.
It took an estimated 170 firefighters working in just 15 degrees to rescue people from the building as water sprayed from hoses froze into ice on the street.
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