A fire in a New York high-rise apartment building claimed 19 lives Sunday morning and injured dozens more. LFR’s Nancy Crist tells KLIN News every door is fire rated to some degree. She recommends sleeping with your bedroom door closed.
“In the event the fire starts in the living room and you’re in your bedroom asleep that buys you some time to alert to the outside that you are trapped in your bedroom.” Crist also has this advice. “Never plug a space heater into an extension cord. Be sure those space heaters are plugged directly into an outlet. We encourage you to use space heaters that if knocked over they shut off.”
Crist also urges residents to keep space heaters three feet away from anything that could catch fire. That includes furniture, bedding or a laundry basket.
New York authorities say the space heater that sparked the fire on Sunday had been running for several days in a Bronx apartment building. 17 people were killed, including eight children.