New York City Mayor Eric Adams, just over a week into the job, confirmed 19 people had died from the blaze that broke out around 11am in the imposing 19-floor Twin Parks North West building which provided affordable housing units and was home to a Gambian community.
The fire itself started from a space heater in an apartment that spanned the second and third floors of the building, and only made it to the hall, officials said. Fire marshals had determined through physical evidence and accounts from residents the fire started in a portable electric heater in the apartment's bedroom, Nigro said. He added the heat had been on in the apartment building and the portable heater had been supplementing that heating.
Adams said many of the residents were from the small west African country of Gambia. The Gambian consulate in New York did not immediately respond to a request for information.The building did not have external fire escapes, and residents were meant to evacuate through interior stairways, Nigro said. “I think some of them could not escape because of the volume of smoke,” he said.
Inside a school acting as an emergency shelter, displaced residents sat at tables, dressed in thick coats and with a few belongings huddled around them. Many of the women wore hijabs and several people were on the phone, including one masked woman wrapped in a Red Cross blanket.
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