8 Children Killed in Bronx Fire

By JENNIFER PELTZ

NEW YORK – A devastating fire in a three-story building in the Bronx killed eight children and one adult and left several others injured in one of New York’s deadliest blazes in recent memory, authorities said.

Fire Department spokesman Seth Andrews confirmed the death toll early Thursday, and said he did not know whether any of the survivors were children.

At least 10 people were injured, with six of them being serious. Four firefighters and one other emergency worker were hospitalized with minor injuries.

The fire was reported shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday in a three-story building in the south Bronx, not far from Yankee Stadium. It burned in the basement and first floor, Andrews said.

Witnesses and neighbors described a huge inferno that sent smoke billowing all throughout the neighborhood.

The neighborhood has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years as a growing number of people have moved away from the high real estate prices in Manhattan.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

All the injured people were taken to local hospitals, he said. At least two were taken to a burn unit for further treatment.

Firefighters had the blaze under control shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, Andrews said.