Death Toll in NYC Apartment Building Fire Drops to 17
NEW YORK — The death toll from this weekend’s horrific apartment building fire in the Bronx has dropped from 19 to 17 fatalities — eight children and nine adults — and New York City Fire Department officials are honing in on faulty fire doors as a reason for the devastating scope of the tragedy.
The number of deaths dropped because some of the fatalities had been counted twice, city officials said Monday.
“This is really an evolving crisis,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference outside the building, 333 E. 181st St. in Fordham Heights.
“As it evolves and we get new information we’re going to share the information. This is an unspeakable tragedy. We’re going to remain vigilant to address this horrific tragedy.”
The five-alarm fire erupted Sunday morning in the Twin Parks North West apartment building, sparked by a space heater left on in a second-floor bedroom, according to FDNY officials.
The revised toll came as new details emerged about what caused the blaze to spread. FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the apartment door where the fire began “was not functioning as it should” and did not close.
He also said that the self-closing fire doors, mandatory by law for a building this size, remained open in a 15th-floor stairwell during the blaze. That allowed the smoke to spread through the 19-story building.
“We’re certain that the fire started with a faulty electrical heater,” Nigro said. “The fire was contained to the hallway just outside this two-story apartment but the smoke traveled throughout the building — and the smoke is what caused the deaths and serious injuries.”
Adams stressed that the open doors were a multiplier in the tragedy.
“If we take one message from this that Commissioner Nigro has said several times: Close the door, close the door. That was embedded in my head as a child watching the commercials over and over again. We’re going to double down on that message,” Adams said, adding that he has been in touch with city Education Chancellor David Banks about distributing PSAs about this to “all of our schools.”
“Muscle memory is everything and if we can drill that in we can save lives by closing the doors, not only in the city but across the entire globe,” Adams added. “This painful moment can turn into a purposeful moment as we send the right message of something simple as closing the door.”
News of the fire traveled across the country and around the world.
President Joe Biden reached out to Adams on Monday to express his “heartfelt condolences and offer support,” according to the White House.
Pope Francis sent a telegram to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York sending his prayers.
Fire investigators descended on the scorched building Monday to review video footage and study the scene.
“They will do a complete investigation as to how this occurred and why this occurred,” Nigro said. “There’s been some stories that the alarm system went off regularly. There have been some stories that people were smoking in the halls and set off the alarm, so our investigation will determine that.”
The entire complex was evacuated after the blaze and residents have not been allowed to return, according to Christina Farrel, deputy commissioner of the city Office of Emergency Management.
About half of the building residents, 60 families, were housed in area hospitals and the rest were scattered among family and friends willing to take them in. Some of the residents will be able to return to the building before the end of the week, Farrel said.
Several victims remain hospitalized in critical condition. Some of the injured remained in one of seven different hospitals that treated the victims Sunday night, Farrel said.
The fire, which ranks as the deadliest in the city since the 1990 blaze at the Bronx’s Happy Land social club, quickly tore through the building and caused thick black smoke to fill up hallways and apartment units.
____
©2022 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.