Update: Friday 10:30 a.m.
According to the New York Post, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a radio appearance on Friday that a toddler playing with the stove on the first floor of the apartment building ignited the deadly blaze.
“What we think at this point is unfortunately it emanated from an accident — a young child playing with a stove on the first floor,” them mayor said on WNYC Radio.
“It spread rapidly upward … accidental from everything we can see.”
Original story:
Four children and eight adults are dead after a fire tore through a Bronx apartment building on Thursday during an early-winter cold snap in New York City.
Officials have not yet released the identity of the victims, but the New York Post reports that those killed range in age from one year to 63 years old. Four other people were critically injured in the blaze that reportedly “gutted” the building on Prospect Avenue, near the Bronx Zoo.
NY1 reporter Myles Miller said on Twitter Friday morning that the infant and her 63-year-old grandmother were found dead in an apartment, and that four of the victims were members of the same family.
NEW: We’re learning more about those killed in last night’s #BronxFire
– A 1 year-old girl and her 63-year-old grandmother were pronounced dead inside their apartment.
– Two generations of a family (2, 7, 19, 37) died at @SBHBronx. pic.twitter.com/pUblKtg4rS— Myles Miller (@MylesMill) December 29, 2017
NBC 4 reports that, excluding the fires in the Twin Towers on 9/11, Thursday’s fire is the deadliest in New York City since 1990, when a fire at a social club in the Bronx killed 87 people.
“Our hearts go out to every person who lost a loved one here and everyone who is fighting for their lives,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters.
The fast-moving blaze claimed a dozen lives despite a rapid response from the FDNY, which responded to the reports of a fire within minutes. NBC News reports that 170 firefighters reported to the scene and quickly extinguished the fire.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the deadly fire.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
[Feature image: Associated Press]
