8 Children, 1 Adult Killed in New York City House Fire

By Erin Peterson

Eight children and one adult are dead as the result of a tragic house fire in the New York City Bronx borough. The house near Yankee Stadium was shared by members of an extended family of immigrants from the West African nation of Mali.

The fire in the three-story brick home was caused by an over-heated space heater near a mattress in a basement bedroom. It then spread up the stairs at an accelerated pace due to the breeze from a broken window at the back of the house. Fire investigators report that there were two smoke detectors in the home but that neither had batteries.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke with the press about the fire. He reported that as many as 19 people were injured in the fire, including four firefighters and an emergency medical worker. He also fears that the number of fatalities caused by the fire could still increase. The mayor disclosed that the dead children ranged from infant to age ten and that the adult was a female in her 40s.

Witnesses report that smoke and flames were pouring out of the building as the residents cried for help. Some say they saw a woman toss two children out of a window to people below on the sidewalk. The woman then jumped out of the building to safety. Both children and the woman survived.

Edward Soto, a neighbor of the family, saw one of the infants being thrown from the building. Soto states, "All I see is just a big cloud of white dust, and out of nowhere comes the first baby." Miraculously, Soto and another neighbor, David Todd, caught both children who were thrown to safety. However, the witness claims that one of the babies was not breathing at the time.

Reports say that 22 people, including 17 children, were living in the house. Most of the residents were caught on the higher floors while the fire raged on for nearly two hours. During that time, firefighters battled the blaze in the record-cold early morning temperatures.

Mayor Bloomberg states that "the Fire Department was on the scene in a little more than three minutes. Sadly, it was not enough time." Many of the children were found still in their beds or cribs. The home, which was split into two apartments, was not equipped with a fire escape.

The injured were taken to area hospitals including Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Jacobi Medical Center, and Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center. Jacobi Medical Center spokesman, Michael Heller, said five children, ages two through seven, arrived at his hospital with smoke inhalation and burns. One infant died at Jacobi after arriving. One woman and two children were dead on arrival at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center.

Authorities are calling this the deadliest fire in nearly two decades. The last fire of this magnitude was in 1990 when the Happy Land social club caught fire and killed 87 people.

This tragedy is felt not only in the close-knit Bronx neighborhood but also in the family’s home village in Mali.