When they do, she said, “I roll my eyes.” Campbell, who lives on the third floor, said that the fire alarms in the building go off five or six times a day. Several said that the sound of the fire alarm was so common that people learned to ignore it. Residents described the building as a melting pot of races, religions and languages. The building, like the surrounding neighborhood, is home to working-class families of African American, African and Hispanic descent, some of whom use federal Section 8 vouchers to help pay the rent. The fire was started by a young boy playing with the stove in his family’s first-floor apartment and quickly tore through the building.

The residents were using the heater to supplement the building’s heat, which was on, officials said.Īpartment doors left open during fires have featured in some of the city’s worst blazes, including a Bronx fire in 2017 that left 13 people dead. “Tonight is a night of tragedy and pain, and tomorrow we begin to rebuild,” she said.Ī city official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the fire was still under investigation, said fire marshals believe the space heater had been running for several days uninterrupted. She described holding a mother who had lost her entire family in the fire. Kathy Hochul, who spoke at the second news conference, said that she would include funding to assist victims with the cost of housing and burials in her budget proposal next week. He urged all of the injured and displaced victims to seek help and assured those who may be undocumented that their information would not be passed along to federal immigration authorities.

Thirty people remained in the hospital on Sunday evening, Mr.

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