A woman was killed this morning when a fire swept through the second floor of 124 Ludlow, a tenement building near Rivington Street.
The first call came into 911 shortly after 11am. Around 60 firefighters brought the blaze under control in about a half hour, according to the Daily News.
Several tenants told DNAinfo that the woman was in her 70s who lived alone and used a walker. They said she’d been using her stove top to keep warm. “There was no heat or hot water in that building this morning,” said Adrian Cutner, 65. “She turned on the oven for heat. She was too close to the stove and she went up like a fireball.” He said a neighbor forced her way into the woman’s apartment to try to save her life. She was also injured. A woman getting medical treatment outside the building said, “She had her burners on. I told her not to but she didn’t have enough heat.”
Alan Luke, the owner of the building, told the New York Times the tenement was equipped with smoke detectors. The name of the woman who died has not been released.
Pike Street Fish Fry, a Seattle based restaurant, was planning to open in 124 Ludlow in the next several weeks.
“I was asleep and heard alarms going off,” said Eoin Foyle, a bar owner who lives on the fifth floor of the six-story building. “When I went outside the apartment, I couldn’t see an inch in front of my face — thick, grey smoke.” He said he made it to the building’s roof — and stayed there in a T-shirt until firefighters arrived. Another tenant, Cole Ingram, a web marketer, said he was working inside his fourth-floor apartment when the blaze broke out. “I heard screaming really loud,” he said. “There was an overwhelming amount of smoke. I grabbed my laptop and put on some shoes — and went out the fire escape.” A 27-year-old resident described Rivera as “very nice” and “gentle.” He said she relied on a walker to get around her apartment. None of the neighbors said they had any problems with heat in the building, which has a store on the ground floor and apartments above in a neighborhood that has become fashionably chic in recent years.
Here is a video report from the Daily News:
After reading your article I felt I had to make a number of comments,as certain facts were either left out or reported in error.As the next door neighbor,I know for a fact that there was no heat beginning 11pm the night before.A number of neighbors also spoke to detectives and fire marshals and told them the same thing.In fact we had been receiving sporadic heat for a couple of weeks prior to my neighbors tragic death.In fact,your article mentioned that at least one other neighbor,Adrian Cutner stated there was no heat.As for violations,our building has received a number of them in the past.Unfotunately not everyone in my bulding complains.Mrs Rivera’s death could have been prevented.