Dozens hospitalised after fire in building in NYC

Emergency first responders remain at the scene after the intense fire in a residential building on Sunday morning in the Bronx, NYC. Pic/AFP

Hospitals worked Monday to save the lives of multiple people gravely injured by smoke in a fire that killed 19 people, including nine children, in a Bronx apartment building.

Dozens of people were hospitalised, and as many as 13 were in critical condition after Sunday's blaze, already New York City's deadliest in three decades. Investigators determined that a malfunctioning electric space heater, plugged in to give extra heat on a cold morning, started the fire in the 19-storey building.

The flames damaged only a small part of the building, but smoke escaped through the apartment's open door and billowed through stairwells and halls, trapping many people in their apartments and incapacitating others as they fled.

Multiple limp children were seen being given oxygen after they were carried out. Evacuees had faces covered in soot.

Firefighters found victims on every floor, many in cardiac and respiratory arrest, said Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro. Firefighters continued rescues even after their air supplies ran out, Mayor Eric Adams said. "Their oxygen tanks were empty and they still pushed through the smoke," Adams said. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said an investigation was underway on how the fire spread and whether anything could have been done to prevent or contain the blaze.

The building is equipped with smoke alarms, but several residents said they initially ignored them because alarms were so common in the 120-unit building.

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