Several with grave injuries after NYC fire that killed 19

By DAVID PORTER, BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and MICHELLE L. PRICE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Doctors are working to save the lives of several people gravely injured when smoke from a fire knocked them out or trapped them in their apartments in a New York City high-rise building. Nineteen people, including nine children, died in the blaze. Dozens of people were in the hospital Monday, and as many as 13 were in critical condition. Sunday’s fire in the Bronx is already the city’s deadliest in three decades. Investigators determined that a malfunctioning electric space heater started the fire in the 19-story building. The flames damaged only a small part of the building, but smoke escaped through the apartment’s open door and turned stairwells into dark, ash-choked horrors.