United States: six dead and several injured in a fire in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani deplores a “devastating” disaster

Six people were killed in a house fire early Thursday in the Brooklyn borough of New York, authorities announced, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani deploring a “devastating” disaster. “I am heartbroken to announce that six New Yorkers have lost their lives,” the city councilor who visited the scene told the press, specifying that the firefighters had intervened in less than four minutes.

Images broadcast by local media showed large flames escaping from several windows of this terraced house in the Sunset Park neighborhood, located about eight kilometers from Manhattan. “Four people had already died when firefighters arrived, while two others died in hospital. The six victims were adults,” Zohran Mamdani said. He said four other residents were also injured, and three firefighters and two police officers suffered minor injuries.

The mayor added that it was still too early to determine the origin of the fire, but that the conclusions of the investigation would be made public. “This is a devastating fire. It will take a long time for this neighborhood to mourn the neighbors it lost this morning,” he said.

The First Deputy Commissioner of the New York Fire Department (FDNY), Daniel Flynn, indicated that fire investigators were on scene to determine the causes of the fire. Last month, four people died in the Bronx after a fire caused by the battery of an electric bike inside an apartment.