Bronx apartment fire: Witnesses recall horrors of NYC’s deadliest fire in 30 years
Fire officials said a malfunctioning electric space heater sparked the blaze
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dilenny Rodriguez lives on the ninth floor of the Bronx building that was the site of the devastating fire that broke out Sunday morning and killed 19 people—including nine children—before teams of firefighters were able to get control of the blaze.
Rodriguez, 38, told the New York Post that she was startled at around 11 a.m. whe she heard the screams from children, "Help! Help! Help!"
"It was dark," she said. "The smoke was really bad. Those kids crying for help."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another witness told the paper that she watched mothers fainting when they "saw their kids dying."
An aerial view of the apartment building after a deadly fire in the Bronx, on January 9, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Fire officials said a malfunctioning electric space heater inside a duplex on the second floor of the 19-story building at 333 E. 181st St. in the Tremont section of the Bronx led to the fire that led to the deaths. MyFoxNY.com reported that more than 50 people were injured – including 13 who were listed in critical condition at nearby hospitals.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Firefighters hoisted a ladder to rescue people through their windows after a fire broke out inside a third-floor duplex apartment at 333 E. 181st St. in the Bronx Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Trapped residents broke windows for air and stuffed wet towels under doors as smoke rose from a lower-floor apartment where the fire started. Survivors told of fleeing in panic down darkened hallways and stairs, barely able to breathe.
A view of the apartment building after a deadly fire in the Bronx, on January 9, 2022, in New York. (Photo by New York City Fire Department/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (New York City Fire Department/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mayor Eric Adams praised firefighters who continued to push their way through the smoke despite the fact that their compressed air tanks were empty.
"I really want to thank them for putting their lives on the line to save lives," he said. Firefighters found victims on every floor of the building. The children who died were 16 years or younger, News 12 reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sunday’s fire happened just days after 12 people, including eight children, were killed in a house fire in Philadelphia. In 1989, a Tennessee apartment building fire claimed the lives of 16 people.
The conditions inside the building were chaotic. One woman told Fox 5 that she was forced to step over the bodies of a person and dog while she ran down a smoke-filled staircase.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jose Henriquez, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who lives on the 10th floor, said the building’s fire alarms would frequently go off, but would turn out to be false.
"It seems like today, they went off but the people didn’t pay attention," Henriquez said in Spanish.
The Associated Press contributed to this report