# disaster
New York City Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro said a faulty electric heater was to blame for a fire that killed 19 people, including nine children, and injured dozens of others in an apartment in the Bronx on Sunday morning.
He said the fire spread quickly in the late morning because a door to the second-floor apartment where the fire started was either open or did not close automatically after residents fled.
"The marshals determined through physical evidence and first-hand accounts from residents that the fire started in a portable electric heater in one of the bedrooms," Nigro said at an evening news conference. He said the heater was used to replenish heat in the building, and he said the heater was working at the time. However, the function of the fire alarm is under investigation.
At least 30 survivors were taken to hospital as the fire grew to a five-alarm level. Nigro said the second door that opened likely allowed the deadly smoke to spread throughout the building.