US building fire kills more than a dozen, including children

Nineteen people, including nine children, have been killed in an apartment fire in New York City, in what the city's fire commissioner has called one of the worst blazes in recent memory.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Sunday's fire "started in a malfunctioning electric space heater" in an apartment unit spanning the second and third floors of the 19-story building. The door of the apartment was left open, allowing smoke to quickly spread throughout the building, Nigro said.

Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, confirmed the death toll on Sunday to The Associated Press, while a city official who was not authorised to speak publicly confirmed the number of children dead.

More than five dozen people were injured and 13 people were still in critical condition in the hospital, Ringel said. The majority of victims were suffering from severe smoke inhalation, Nigro said.

According to the officials, approximately 200 firefighters responded to the scene at the Bronx's Twin Park apartments, a 19-story building on East 181st Street.

Firefighters "found victims on every floor and were taking them out in cardiac and respiratory arrest," Nigro said. “

"That is unprecedented in our city. We expect there to be numerous fatalities."

Cause under investigation

Nigro compared the severity of the fire to the Happy Land social club fire, which killed 87 people in 1990 when man set fire to the building after getting into an argument with his former girlfriend and being thrown out of the club.

According to Nigro, Sunday's fire originated in a duplex apartment spanning the second and third floors. Firefighters found the door to the apartment open, he said, which apparently allowed the fire to accelerate and spread smoke upward quickly.

Sunday's fire comes just days after a house fire in Philadelphia left 12 people — including eight children — dead.