De Blasio Calls Steam Burn Deaths Of Bronx Toddlers 'Freak Accident,' Vows 'Rigorous' Investigation

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio called the deaths of two Bronx toddler sisters "an extraordinary and unprecedented accident" but promised a full and rigorous investigation.

"This was a freak accident, a series of painful coincidences that led to the loss of these children," he said Thursday. "We are trying to put the pieces together, but so far cannot understand how something like this could happen."

City Public Advocate Letitia James did not agree with the mayor's characterization.

"This was not a freak accident -- by no means," she said. "What we really need to do is get to the bottom of this find out who failed to protect these two children."

A multi-agency investigation is underway into the deaths of 1-year-old Scylee Vayoh Ambrose and her 2-year-old sister, Ibanez Ambrose, who were both severely burned by a steam leak in their apartment on Wednesday.

Thursday morning, police officers along with dozens of other mourners placed candles, pink balloons and teddy bears outside the building at 720 Hunts Point Ave.

"Even if you're not a mother, it has to be the hardest thing and even now, I'm getting choked up," mourner Tatia Ross told CBS2's Ali Bauman. "They aren't even my children. I've never seen these kids, but it's a devastating loss."

Late Thursday, neighbors placed candles at a memorial and knelt down to pray. Pain from the little girls' deaths was felt by countless people in the close-knit community, CBS2's Jessica Layton reported.

"I couldn't even imagine having the kids ripped apart from your heart in just one day," said Grisele Reese, a grandmother.

Ten-year-old children were likewise trying to comprehend how the beautiful baby girls could be gone.

"They didn't get a chance to like live their life," said Otis Reese.

Amid all the anguish, there was also anger.

"These slumlords need to take care of their responsibilities and fix what they need to fix for these families," one man said at the memorial Thursday evening.

Emergency responders rushed to the scene Wednesday after residents described hearing a loud boom followed by screams for help.

"I came out and I saw the father carrying both babies on each arm and they were like raggedy dolls and when I saw the babies, they were burned badly," said neighbor and friend Marisol Rodrigues. "The mother had the baby, the 1-year-old, on the floor. She was giving CPR."

"The father was just very hysterical. He was all over the place, he couldn't think straight," said neighbor Gilberto Lorenzo. "The mother was panicking on the floor with one of her children on her."

When crews arrived on the scene, they say steam was coming from the apartment and the sisters were in cardiac arrest. Firefighters immediately performed CPR on the girls. They were then taken to the hospital, but were pronounced dead.

The toddlers' father, overwhelmed with emotion, was seen embracing a police officer outside of the hospital.

Neighbor Marisol Rodrigues had watched as the girls' parents tried to save their lives.

"I came out and I saw the father carrying both babies on each arm, and they were like raggedy dolls," Rodrigues said. "The mother had the baby -- the 1-year-old on the floor. She was giving CPR, the father was going crazy, and all we was doing was waiting for ambulance to come."

The family moved to New York from Maine about a year ago. On Thursday, dozens of friends and strangers touched by their loss came hoping to provide comfort.

"They were visitors to our coffee shop," said barista Majora Carter. "I wanted to let them know people cared about them."

"Just to take five minutes from my lunchtime to come here just to let her know and let the father and family -- that people care," said bus driver Tatia Ross.

Friends said both parents were artists and thought their daughters had more opportunities in New York. The family has been relocated.

While the New York City Medical Examiner's office will determine the exact cause of death for the girls, fire officials say both had severe burns that appeared to be caused by the steam leak from a malfunctioning radiator.

"It appeared to be a failure of the radiator,'' FDNY spokesman Jim Long said. "A valve or release valve that became separated.''

The investigation is now zeroing in on the steam valve on the radiator, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported.

"Something happened with that valve and we do not know if it was something wrong with the manufacture of that unit, we do not know if it was altered in some way, something unusual is going on here," de Blasio said.

The radiator was removed intact as part of the investigation, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.

The apartment is considered a homeless cluster shelter, a privately owned building that contracts with the city to house homeless in some of the units.

Residents said the radiators in the building have been a problem for years, and brought CBS2's Bauman inside to see theirs. They were old and broken, and they were finally being repaired in the hours following the tragedy.

Ramon Arias took CBS2 into his apartment, a few floors above the one where the two little girls were burned. Arias said his own radiator is old and unpredictable, with the stiff handles leaking and releasing too much heat into the small bedroom his family shares.

Arias filed a complaint with the city back in July, but he and his aunt said no one came to fix it until Wednesday of this week.

"They fixed it yesterday -- after the kids died," he said.

A friend of the family who is in a similar shelter program explained systematic issues with building repairs.

"The super can't come into our apartment and fix stuff," she said. "The shelter people have their own people that come out which takes a long time to do their job."

Since the incident, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspected 35 of the 48 radiator units in the building and did not find any other faulty ones. The city Department of Buildings also inspected the apartment building's 4-year-old low-pressure boiler system, which showed no problems.

"I've never once seen anything like this. I've no experience at all of anyone ever getting scalded," said city Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler. "I've never once heard of a radiator blowing out, particularly with the low pressure boiler."

But officials say the building's landlord, Moshe Piller, has made the public advocate's list of the city's 100 worst landlords in previous years. However, he was not on the latest list released in October. There is a Mordechai Piller in the latest list, but their relation, if any, is unknown.

CBS2 tried to speak to building owner Piller at his Borough Park, Brooklyn home, but he was not there.

Comptroller Scott Stringer said he's calling on the city to release a roadmap to "tackle our homeless crisis."

"I am outraged by the deaths of these children. What a horrifying loss. My heart goes out to this family in this time of unimaginable pain," Stringer said in a statement. "Cluster sites are known to be dangerous. Hotels are extraordinarily expensive and provide limited services. These options make no sense. That's why we need a clear, transparent, public plan. While I know that progress will take time, we cannot continue to accept the status quo. The city promised to end its reliance on both of these forms of shelter - and we are no doubt trending in the wrong direction."

The city's Department of Buildings inspected the building at least twice this year and last month and issued a violation for what was characterized as a future gas connection.

In April, inspectors also issued a summons for a faulty radiator valve in a second-floor apartment, which was immediately repaired.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development said the last time it received a complaint about the Ambroses' first-floor apartment was back in 2002.

Homeless Services officials said case workers did a routine section of the Ambrose family's apartment as recently as Monday.

"They didn't notice anything on tour in the apartment," said Human Resources Administration and Department Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks. "But we are evaluating. The Police Department and the agencies are conducting a very intensive investigation of the circumstance to make sure that this kind of tragedy never happens again, and that no parents lose their children like these parents did."

The mayor said Thursday that inspectors also went to every apartment following Wednesday's incident and didn't find any similar problems. He said there were no indications the building being a cluster site was related to the children's deaths.

"We absolutely are planning to close all the cluster sites, there's aggressive work being done to do that now, but so far, what we are seeing, this is not because this was a cluster site," the mayor said.

Neighbors, however, are now demanding answers.

"If these radiators were so bad, why they didn't do nothing about it?" resident Andrea Perez said.

"There's a lot of violations, things that need to be fixed," said neighbor Maritza Morales. "They'll patch up little things, they'll put a Band-Aid on it."

"They were just beautiful children," a family friend told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "The love they had for me, the love I have for them -- it hurts that I will never see these children again."

"Every time I see them, they're a happy family and I was surprised I didn't see them with their kids," another resident told 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon.

On Thursday, a steady stream of mourners, including police officers, left candles and prayers for the girls taken too soon, and their devastated parents left behind.

"Even if you're not a mother, it has to be the hardest thing, and even now I'm getting choked up," said Tatia Ross "They aren't even my children. I've never seen these kids. But it's a devastating loss."

The NYPD 43rd Precinct is raising money for the family.

The city has relocated the seven homeless families living at the building. Meanwhile, a prayer vigil for the girls was held Thursday afternoon.

De Blasio said the investigation into the incident will look at every angle, the possibility that someone might have accidentally manipulated the valve on the radiator.

CBS2 was unable to reach the Bushwick Economic Development Corporation, which runs the Hunts Point cluster shelter.

In:
• Peter Haskell
• Bronx
• Sonia Rincon
• FDNY
• Bill de Blasio