6 dead, including 4 kids, in Harlem apartment fire

Six family members, including four children, were killed early Wednesday when a fire that apparently started on a stove ravaged a Harlem apartment, authorities said. Firefighters were called at about 1:40 a.m.

They pushed quickly and aggressively into the flames and thick smoke and found a man and a woman, as well as two girls and two boys ages 3 to 11, in bedrooms of the fifth-floor apartment, according to Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro. All six were pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians.

"Preliminarily we believe the fire was an accident and that it started in the kitchen on the stove, quickly extended out of the kitchen and eventually involved every room in this apartment including the two rooms where the victims were found," Nigro said at a briefing.

"We're in the lifesaving business and we take this very personally when we're unable to save this family," Nigro added.

"It's horrible to look at, and as a father just thinking ... that yesterday evening four children went to bed and they're gone now is very, very painful," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The head of the New York City Housing Authority, Kathryn Garcia, said a battery-operated smoke detector in the apartment had been tested in January.

Television reports showed neighbors standing in a circle and praying outside the Frederick E. Samuel Houses.

Greg Dubois, a CBS Interactive employee who lives in the neighborhood, tweeted video from the scene.

CBS New York spoke with the father of a 4-year-old killed in the blaze. He said his son Elijah was "smart and a quick learner." Elijah died alongside his 11-year-old sister, 8-year-old brother and 6-year-old sister.

Neighbor Patricia Flowers, who lives on the same floor as the family, told the station she last spoke with the kids as they were on their way outside with their bicycles.

"They were very good kids and the mom, she took very good care of her kids," she said.

In:
• Harlem
• Fire
• New York City