More Than A Dozen Hurt, Including 4-Year-Old Child, In Bronx High-Rise Fire
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 4-year old girl was fighting for her life Sunday night following a fire in the Bronx that the FDNY said started in a compactor chute.
At least a dozen other people were injured.
Police sources told CBS2's Lisa Rozner someone may have set the fire intentionally.
It was chaotic scene early Sunday morning in the Belmont section of the borough as a sea of firefighters respond to a fire at a high rise located at 725 Garden St.
"There was smoke coming out, flames coming out," witness Kecia Askew said.
"It was a lot of smoke. We heard window breaking. We had to run, we had to run out of the apartment. We had to go through the stairs, we couldn't use the elevator, of course," another witness told CBS2's Marc Liverman. "But everyone had to evacuate, the whole building had to evacuate."
Multiple people were taken away on stretchers and in need of oxygen.
"Something happened on the 14th floor. It was a big fire, explosion, so I was hearing glass breaking, so it was very scary," Kenya Askew said.
The FDNY said the call came in around 1:45 a.m. and the blaze took almost two hours to bring under control. Police sources said officials are investigating potential criminality and whether someone intentionally threw some kind of fireworks down the trash chute, Rozner reported.
In all, fire officials said 13 people were injured, including two who are in critical condition.
"It was very sad. We just worried about the elderlies and the kids and everyone was coming out here with no clothes on," Kenya Askew said.
"It was people out here with no pants on," witness Chenell Williams added.
"A couple of the seniors had to be carried down, couldn't breathe," witness Michael Seabrooks said.
CBS2 was still waiting to hear the conditions of many of those that were injured, but neighbors told Rozner the little girl suffered burns to most of her body.
On Sunday afternoon, the NYPD Bomb Squad was on scene with K-9s. The Red Cross said it is providing emergency housing to at least five families.
The investigation is ongoing.