Friday, March 09, 2007
Bronx fire dad: "I don' t know what I'm going to do" - N.Y. Post
The screams filled the street as flames tore through the burning Bronx building: "Help me! Help me! Please! Please!" Neighbor Edward Soto raced toward the fire through the frigid night air, then stared in disbelief as an infant fell from the building and through the smoke.
"All I see is just a big cloud of white dust, and out of nowhere comes the first baby," said Soto, who caught the child while with another neighbor, David Todd. The baby wasn't breathing, but it barely registered: Moments later, Soto caught a second child hurled through a shattered window by a screaming mother trapped inside the three-story inferno.
...
The dramatic scene unfolded during New York's City's deadliest blaze in 17 years - a fire that claimed nine victims early Thursday, eight children and one adult. The victims were all relatives who shared the home near Yankee Stadium after immigrating from western Africa. The heartbreaking word of the fire spread across two continents, from the South Bronx to villages in Mali.
The fire, which raged for two hours, ignited near a mattress in the building's basement - most likely from a space heater or an overloaded power strip, officials said. The home had two smoke alarms, but neither had batteries.
...
Soumara was driving through Harlem when he received a frantic cell phone call from his wife, Fatoumata. "She said, `We have a fire,'" Soumara recalled. "She was screaming."
Soumara rushed home in his cab, only to stand on the street and watch helplessly as their home turned into a fiery tomb.
...
The death toll may have been worse Thursday had it not for the efforts of Todd and Soto.
Todd, 40, who lived in an adjoining apartment building, said one child was already on the ground in the yard when he arrived with Soto outside the burning home. "Please God, help my children!" the woman inside screamed while tossing her children into the night - and then plunging herself from the window.
...
Part of the problem, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was that residents apparently tried to extinguish the fire themselves.
"Once they were notified, the Fire Department was on the scene in a little more than three minutes," the mayor said. "Sadly, that was not enough time."
The home was not equipped with a fire escape, and was not required to have one under city building codes, according to the Building Department.
The screams filled the street as flames tore through the burning Bronx building: "Help me! Help me! Please! Please!" Neighbor Edward Soto raced toward the fire through the frigid night air, then stared in disbelief as an infant fell from the building and through the smoke.
"All I see is just a big cloud of white dust, and out of nowhere comes the first baby," said Soto, who caught the child while with another neighbor, David Todd. The baby wasn't breathing, but it barely registered: Moments later, Soto caught a second child hurled through a shattered window by a screaming mother trapped inside the three-story inferno.
...
The dramatic scene unfolded during New York's City's deadliest blaze in 17 years - a fire that claimed nine victims early Thursday, eight children and one adult. The victims were all relatives who shared the home near Yankee Stadium after immigrating from western Africa. The heartbreaking word of the fire spread across two continents, from the South Bronx to villages in Mali.
The fire, which raged for two hours, ignited near a mattress in the building's basement - most likely from a space heater or an overloaded power strip, officials said. The home had two smoke alarms, but neither had batteries.
...
Soumara was driving through Harlem when he received a frantic cell phone call from his wife, Fatoumata. "She said, `We have a fire,'" Soumara recalled. "She was screaming."
Soumara rushed home in his cab, only to stand on the street and watch helplessly as their home turned into a fiery tomb.
...
The death toll may have been worse Thursday had it not for the efforts of Todd and Soto.
Todd, 40, who lived in an adjoining apartment building, said one child was already on the ground in the yard when he arrived with Soto outside the burning home. "Please God, help my children!" the woman inside screamed while tossing her children into the night - and then plunging herself from the window.
...
Part of the problem, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was that residents apparently tried to extinguish the fire themselves.
"Once they were notified, the Fire Department was on the scene in a little more than three minutes," the mayor said. "Sadly, that was not enough time."
The home was not equipped with a fire escape, and was not required to have one under city building codes, according to the Building Department.
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