19 dead, including 9 children, in New York apartment fire

This is terrible, hearts out to the families and loved ones who lost someone.

Smoke detectors, sprinklers, clear exits or an escape plan ...?

Every year, our local Ino Town fire brigade/ambulance/service invite the local community to a series of lectures, and practical demonstrations.

The fire service time and again warn that smoke inhalation will choke the life out of you before you burn to death.

There is a comprehensive half hour on stand alone heaters. And a take away booklet on personal home safety.

This is a great lost of life thoughts are with the families of the deceased.

Smoke detectors, sprinklers, clear exits or an escape plan ...?

This was in the projects, same as in Philly.

Terrible news to wake up to.

The fire only spread in the apartment where it started and in the hallway, but the smoke made its way through the whole building. NYT

Looks like most of the deaths were from smoke inhalation and children were disproportionately affected.

My thoughts are with the families of the deceased.

No smoke or fire doors between floors?

Zichi, how many times have you taken the stairs in a big building and found the door to the stairwell clearly signed "Fire Door Do Not Prop Open" or similar wording propped open with a door wedge or a concrete block? I have seen this all over the world. And when you try to tell someone that it's dangerous they shush you saying something to the effect you saying that will bring "bad luck". My wife has an engineering degree and makes good money but she is a slave to superstitions and old wives tales. She is also the queen of the daisy chain, which drives me nuts and scares me too. She would be the one who propped the door open "for the fresh air".

Kudos to the FDNY and the dedicated team of firefighters.

Tragedy. Old buildings often have wiring problems. My daughter has moved to Los Angeles, where buildings tend to be newer, but I caution her to inquire regarding wiring.

I'd be really nervous living in an apartment block like this. In general, I think large apartment blocks in Japan (manshon) are safer. Typically, there are two external escape routes from every apartment. I'm thinking of one I lived in that was built around 1987. An outside walkway from the front door, with a choice of external staircases in two directions. Alternatively, an escape from the balcony on the rear side, with fairly easy access to the neighbors' balconies, and trap doors in some of the balcony floors allowing access to the floor below.

According to Nigro, Sunday's fire originated in a duplex apartment spanning the second and third floors. Firefighters found the door to the apartment open, he said, which apparently allowed the fire to accelerate and spread smoke upward quickly.

In the panic, remember to close the doors to isolate the fire and smoke as long as possible

Those doors are made to be flame-retardant

Be careful of heaters

I never visit apartment blocks like this one. In large buildings are usually offices and shops and I don't use the stairs. Did this building have smoke doors, fire alarms, sprinkler systems? Probably not.

That's wonderful, but my in-laws live in similar buildings and yes I have seen the door to the stairwell propped open with a concrete block.

Tragedy. Old buildings often have wiring problems. My daughter has moved to Los Angeles, where buildings tend to be newer, but I caution her to inquire regarding wiring.

The news this morning is saying the fire started with a space heater.

Smoke detectors, sprinklers, clear exits or an escape plan ...?

From other sources, it seems the building didn’t have external fire escapes because of its height, but did have interior fire stairs. Additionally, it appears they did have functional fire alarms, but since there had been many false alarms in the past, people did not initially react until prompted to do so by people calling them or knocking on their doors.

Most condos owners live in condos with sprinkles system and fire holes for fireman to use on each floor