3-yr-old boy playing with stove caused NYC's Bronx fire

New York [USA], December 30 (ANI): The fire at New York City's Bronx area, which occurred earlier on Friday, was caused by a three-year-old boy who was playing with a gas stove.

According to Daniel A Nigro, the city fire commissioner, who was quoted by the New York Times, the boy who turned on the gas stove inadvertently had a history of being fascinated with gas burners.

"The boy playing with the stove in a first-floor apartment screamed when the fire began, sending his mother rushing into the kitchen as it filled with smoke and flames, She ran out of the apartment with the boy and a 2-year-old child, but left the door open, allowing fire to shoot out of the kitchen and into the stairwell,"

said Nigro.

Nigro also said that the department gets 75 to 100 referrals a year about children that have issues with playing with or being fascinated by fire. He called the fire, "historic in its magnitude."

At least 12 people died, including a baby, after a fire broke out at an apartment building in New York. The building is located near Fordham University and the Bronx Zoo.

"This is the worst fire in New York City history in at least a quarter-century," NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier.

More than 170 New York City firefighters reportedly responded to the scene of the fire. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI