91-year-old woman, adult son who has Down syndrome killed in Chinatown fire
NEW YORK -- A mother and son were killed when a fire ripped through a Chinatown apartment building early Friday morning.
CBS2's Kiran Dhillon spoke with residents who were forced from their homes.
Residents, like Daniel Erickson, rushed to escape, as flames shot through a window and smoke filled the air.
"Our neighbor was banging on doors on our floor and in the building," Erickson told Dhillon. "Once we opened the front door, we saw fire in the apartment across the hall and a lot of smoke. It looked pretty intense."
The fire started just before 4 a.m. in a fifth floor unit and quickly spread up through the building on Mulberry Street off Canal.
Ashely Cui was awake when a neighbor alerted her of the fire.
"When the firefighters came, they knocked on a window, and it was like a fireball that just kind of erupted out of the window that they broke open," she said.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene.
A 91-year-old woman with dementia and her 52-year-old son have since died. Sources say the man, who had Down syndrome, was put in his room by his home health care aide. When she returned 45 minutes later, the room was engulfed in flames. The home health care aide escaped unharmed.
Shortly after, several people who identified themselves as family members of the deceased grew emotional.
The FDNY said clutter in the apartment where the fire started made rescue operations more difficult.
Two other residents and two firefighters also suffered minor injuries. One of the firefighters was hurt falling through a partially collapsed stairwell.
"These type of old buildings, when fire gets into the stairway, it can be quickly be compromised. Couple that the amount of firefighters we're putting in the staircases and the weight of their equipment, we have some stability issues on the stairways," FDNY Assistant Chief Michael Ajello said.
Residents were grateful for the firefighters who rushed to help. Many were in disbelief by what happened.
"It was a little bit surreal. Not something I would have thought I would have to experience," said Cui.
The FDNY said the cause of the fire is under investigation. Meantime, the office of Emergency Management and the Red Cross are helping those who have been displaced.
