(CNN) – A major fire broke out in a residential apartment building in the city’s Bronx New York Mayor Eric Adams told CNN on Sunday that 19 people had died, including nine children.
New York City Fire Department (FDNY) Commissioner Daniel Nikro said Sunday that 32 people had been sent to hospitals in life-threatening condition in the blaze. A total of 63 people were injured, Adams said.
“It’s a terrible, scary and painful time for New York City, and the impact of this fire will really cause pain and frustration for our city,” Adams said.
About 200 members of the New York City Fire Department were at the scene of the fire in a 19-story apartment building on 333 East 181st Street. A duplex apartment on the second and third floors of the building caught fire shortly before 11 a.m. and was “demolished,” FDNY reported.
The fire broke out in a duplex apartment on the second and third floors of the building, Nikro said. Smoke spread to all floors of the building as the apartment door opened.
Firefighters encountered “very thick smoke, very dense fire” in the hallway.
Victims were found on the stairs to every floor of the building, many of whom suffered heart attacks, unprecedented casualties in what Negro said. He noted that most of the injuries were caused by inhaling smoke.
FDNY 333 released several images from the scene on East 181st Street, which extends the stairs to the apartment windows and several broken windows.
About 200 FDNY members operate at the site of the 5-alarm fire at 333 East 181 Street in the Bronx. Currently 31 civilians have been seriously injured. pic.twitter.com/yrTYwOfonH
– FDNY (FDNY) January 9, 2022
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