Giant Fire At NYC Apartment Kills Six Of A Family Including Four Children
- Six people of a family died after they were trapped by the raging blazes in a New York City apartment.
- A woman, Andrea Pollidore, her four children (all below 12) and her stepson were the victims.
- The Fire Department said the fire could have developed from an unattended burning stove at night.
- All six people were found unresponsive in their two bedrooms of their apartment on the fifth floor; they were pronounced dead at the scene.
A family of six that included four children died Wednesday night after they were trapped by raging flames ignited by an unattended stove. Officials said the family was unaware of the blaze as their fire alarm wasn't working at the time.
The victims included a woman Andrea Pollidore, 45 alongside her stepson, Matt Abdularauph, 32, and her four young children. The fire broke out at about 1:45 on Wednesday morning in their 3-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor.
The children have been identified as Andrea's sons, Elijah, Andre, 8, and daughters; Brooklyn, 6, and Nakaira, 11.
Firefighters, who took the blazes under control after two hours, found the victims unresponsive in two back bedrooms-they all were pronounced dead at the scene. Officials reported three other people suffered minor smoke inhalation.
Fire Department confirmed on Wednesday evening that an unattended burning stove caused the fire. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the loss of life "extraordinarily painful" and "gut-wrenching" at a press conference Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said,
When the firefighters arrived, fire met them at the door of the apartment. Fire was out the windows on two sides of the building – it’s a large apartment on the fifth floor, a six-room apartment. Firefighters pushed in rapidly but were unable to save the members of this family who were found in two bedrooms
Jean Belot, the grief-stricken father, told of his youngest son Elijah "He was smart, a quick learner." He further told he was not in a good state of mind. Raven Reyes, Pollidore's daughter, 27, said the family was devastated. She said,
I'm one of my mom's oldest kids. All my little brothers and sisters, my mom, and even my stepbrother pa s sed away. They were all good people. My little brothers and sisters, they just were perfect. They were amazing.
Reyes further told her mother survived a 2013 fire on Jefferson Ave.
It happens to one of the deadliest NYC fires in recent years. In 2017, the huge blazes in the Bronx that sparked by an infant playing with a stove killed a dozen people. Around a decade before, ten people including nine children died in a four-story house fire in the Bronx.
