2017 Bronx apartment fire

2017 Bronx apartment fire
Date December 28, 2017 (2017-12-28)
Time 6:51 p.m. EST
Location 2363 Prospect Avenue, Belmont, Bronx, New York City[1]
Coordinates 40°51′12.2″N 73°52′59.1″W / 40.853389°N 73.883083°W / 40.853389; -73.883083Coordinates: 40°51′12.2″N 73°52′59.1″W / 40.853389°N 73.883083°W / 40.853389; -73.883083
Type Structure fire
Cause Three-year-old boy playing with stove, door of burning apartment left open
Deaths 12
Non-fatal injuries 6
Location of the 2017 Bronx apartment fire

On December 28, 2017, a five-alarm fire broke out in a five-story apartment building in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It killed twelve people and injured six, four of them critically. Three children were among the dead.[1] Excluding the September 11 attacks, the fire was the deadliest in the city since the 1990 Happy Land fire, which killed 87 people, also in the Bronx.[2] In 2007, a similar incident at another home in the Bronx killed 10 people, including 9 children, after a space heater caught fire.[3]

Incident

The fire started at about 6:51 p.m. EST on the building's ground floor and was extinguished just before 10 p.m. EST.[4] It spread quickly through the 25-unit apartment building, which was built in 1916 and had not been fireproofed.[4][3] Heavy winds contributed to the growth of the fire, and also brought the wind chill that night to below zero, with temperatures already in the teens.[4] The fire climbed upwards through the building's stairwell, blocking attempts by some residents to evacuate, though many others descended to street level through the building's exterior fire escape.[4] The inferno was under control after about three hours, with over 160 firefighters responding to the emergency.[4]

The city's fire commissioner Daniel Nigro later stated that the fire had been started by a three-year-old who had been playing with a gas kitchen stove while unsupervised.[5][3] As the boy and his mother were fleeing their basement apartment, they left their door open, allowing the fire to spread up the stairwell to other units in the building.[4] The design of the building did not appear to be related to the spread of the fire. However, the building reportedly also had six unresolved violations of fire regulations, including a broken smoke detector on the ground floor.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Astor, Maggie; Southall, Ashley (December 28, 2017). "Bronx Fire, City's Deadliest in Decades, Kills at Least 12 and Injures More". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  2. ↑ Joseph, Elizabeth (December 27, 2017). "'Worst NYC fire' in 25 years kills at least 12, injures 4 people". CNN. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Rosenberg, Eli (December 29, 2017). "Child playing with stove started deadliest New York City fire in 25 years, officials say". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mueller, Benjamin; Wang, Vivian (December 29, 2017). "Child Playing With Stove Caused Bronx Fire That Killed 12". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Deadly NYC fire 'caused by child playing'". December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.


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