A portable space heater was behind an apartment fire in New York City that left at least 19 people, including nine children, dead, with dozens more injured.
Roughly 32 people were sent to the hospital on Sunday with life-threatening injuries, and a total of 63 people were injured as the result of an apartment fire in the Bronx, ABC7NY reported. New York City Mayor Eric Adams cited the fire as “one of the worst fires” that the city has seen in years.
“This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed here in modern times in the city of New York,” Adams said.
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The fire began around 11 a.m. in a duplex apartment located on the third floor of a 19-floor apartment building, according to the outlet. The apartment belonged to Mamadou Wague, his wife, and their eight children.
“I don’t want anybody life — I don’t want to hear anybody dead in this fire, that’s what I worry about,” Wague, who sustained burns on his nose after trying to save his daughter, told the outlet. His daughter was trapped on a burning bed, and as a result she sustained burns.
Officials from the NYFD confirmed during a press conference Sunday evening that the fire was the result of a malfunctioning space heater. A door in the apartment was left open, leading the fire to spread.
New York Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a statement on Sunday that 32 people were taken to the hospital due to suffering from severe smoke inhalation, according to the outlet.
Firefighters responded on the scene roughly three minutes after a call for help was placed, with around 200 members of the FDNY working to douse the five-alarm fire, the FDNY confirmed in a post on Twitter.
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While an investigation is taking place, Nigro does not believe that foul play is behind the fire, according to the outlet.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Daniel Nigro for a statement but did not receive a response.
