Space heater blamed for deadly NYC fire: "Kids fighting for their life"

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

More than a dozen people remained hospitalized Monday after one of the country's worst residential fires in decades ripped through a New York City apartment building, killing 19 people, including nine children, authorities said.

Officials blamed a malfunctioning space heater for the fire, which also injured dozens of residents in the Bronx on Sunday morning.

"This is a horrific, horrific, painful moment for the city of New York," Mayor Eric Adams told reporters at a news conference. "This is going to be one of the worst fires that we have witnessed during modern times."

The tragic incident appears to be the deadliest residential fire in the U.S. in more than 30 years.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/space-heater-blamed-for-deadly-nyc-fire-kids-fighting-for-their-life/ar-AASCSoL

Open door allowed smoke to spread throughout building in deadly fire, NYC mayor says

An open door to an apartment unit where a space heater caught fire allowed the smoke to spread throughout all floors of a 19-story building in New York City on Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News.

At least 19 people, including nine children, have died from the incident. More than 60 others were injured, according to the New York City Fire Department.

The city passed a law in 2018 mandating self-closing doors in all apartment buildings. It's unclear whether those were installed at 333 East 181st St., located in the Tremont section of the Bronx. The high-rise was built as affordable housing in 1972 and has 120 units, according to city records.

"It appears the ability to have the smoke spread is due to the door being open," Adams told ABC News in an interview Monday on "Good Morning America." "There may have been a maintenance issue with this door and that is going to be part of the ongoing investigation."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/open-door-allowed-smoke-to-spread-throughout-building-in-deadly-fire-nyc-mayor-says/ar-AASCR2L

[dumbcat]

1. The first thing I wonder from that story

is why was a door to an apartment unit left open at night? Don't people in apartment buildings close their entry doors and lock them as a matter of course. This seems so strange to me.

"Open door allowed smoke to spread throughout building in deadly fire, NYC mayor says."

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that other than a temporary few weeks at a time when I was working, I have never lived in an apartment building. I have always lived in a single family house for almost all of my 73 years. A dormitory room for a couple of years in college, and some BOQ rooms when I was in the army are about the only exceptions.

I feels so bad for the people and especially the children (I have that child protection instinct pretty hard-wired in my brain) that died and were injured in that fire. But I saw that headline and the first thing I thought was "why was the door open"? Anybody know why?

[herding cats]

3. It appears didn't close behind the residents when they fled the fire.

The fire was started by a malfunctioning space heater in the bedroom of a third-floor apartment on Sunday. Fire officials say the door of the apartment did not close as residents fled and that allowed smoke to spread throughout the building.

“It appears the ability to have the smoke spread is due to the door being open,” Mr. Adams said on Good Morning America. “There may have been a maintenance issue with this door and that is going to be part of the ongoing investigation,” he added.

Officials initially said on Sunday that 19 people were killed in connection with the fire, but Mr. Adams revised the number to 17 at a news conference on Monday. A fire official said Monday that every one of the 17 deaths appeared to have stemmed from smoke inhalation; none appeared to be caused by burns.

New York City law requires apartment doors to automatically close. Mr. Adams said the apartments in the building did have self-closing doors.

“The doors in the building did have self-closing mechanisms. We are just looking at that specific door,” the mayor said on CNN.

Fire Department investigators tested most of the doors in the building in the course of their investigation on Sunday, the fire official said, and most were found to have automatically closed properly. However, the door at the apartment where the fire started — and doors at a handful of other units — did not close as designed, the official said.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/10/nyregion/bronx-fire-nyc

[dumbcat]

4. Thanks. That makes perfect sense

I never even thought about that possibilty. I had kind of assumed the people died in the original apartment.

It also shows the rationale for the requirement for self-closing doors (though I bet that sometimes results in some folks being locked out of their apartments).

Things I've never had to think about. Thanks again for the reply.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Blaming the wrong thing.

The blame lies with the person who made it necessary for tenants to use space heaters, who made it so the fire doors wouldn't close, who ran a building with scores of complaints in just one year.

[bamagal62]

5. This. They should be talking about

why these tenants needed a space heater.

[Me.]

6. Isn'T THe Owner On One Of The Mayor's Commissions

if so, why isn't the media mentioning it?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. He's on the new mayor's transition team.