Police sources reported this Monday that the possible cause of the fire in the Bronx that killed four people was due to faulty electrical wiring, as investigators found a melted computer connected to the wall of the room where the flames were formed. .
The Quimby Avenue fire killed two young children, a baby girl and a young father, but investigations are ongoing, despite preliminary findings pointing to an electrical malfunction, sources revealed to the New York Post.
The victims were identified as Ahmed Saleh, aged 22 years old, his daughter of 10 months, Baraj, and his brothers Mohamed Waleed Ahmed, of 10 years, and Kalheed Ben Saleh, from 10.
The New York Fire Department York (FDNY) found an apartme The building was largely exempt from city inspection requirements because it was listed as a single-family dwelling, so inspectors would not have been able to search for a basement unit.
The makeshift basement included a full kitchen with bathroom fixtures, which were created without construction permits from the city, according to New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) records.
The flames spread into the adjoining building and caused damage that included holes in the roof, which authorities to issue an eviction order.
Castle Hill witnesses recounted how the children were trapped in the fire calling for help, while the fire was growing inside the building.
“You could see their little hands hitting ing the windows,” lamented a neighbor named Merlyn Persaue. “They were yelling, ‘Hey, Allah! Hey, Allah!’, which means, ‘Help me, God! Help me, God’”.
Persaue explained that she could see the children’s hands on the windows and then how the flames invaded them, adding that later she did not hear anything else.
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The mother of the deceased children could being rescued by another neighbor, as well as another of her children, who was the only surviving child.