E40FDNYL35
12-23-2005, 12:46 PM
Christmas tree may have ignited in Culkin apartment fire
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Investigators on Thursday were trying to determine if a space heater ignited a Christmas tree in the Manhattan apartment of actor Macaulay Culkin's family, sparking a blaze that killed four people elsewhere in the high-rise. The fire broke out Wednesday in apartments 19D and 19E at the 51-story building that houses about 500 units on West 60th Street near Lincoln Center. The bodies of the four victims -- three women and a man -- were found in stairwells several floors above the fire. Police said they died of smoke inhalation. In a virtual repeat of the fire that killed 3 firefighters 5 days prior, the hallway and stairwell were converted into a 2000-degree smokestack trapping the first due Engine. Luckily the firefighters made it out with burns. Within minutes fire was showing through the 19th floor apartment's windows; clouds of black smoke billowed up along the buildings 51-story facade. Unlike the fire on Vandalia Avenue, this building was not required to have sprinklers in the hallways, only a firehose and standpipe in the stairwell.Twenty people -- including the four firefighters were injured. The Culkin family escaped unharmed, family publicist Paul Bloch said.
Neighbors said Macaulay's mother, Patricia Brentrup, and some of his six siblings, ranging in age from 10 to 22, still live in the two connected apartments on the 19th floor. Resident Steve Young said he saw some of the younger Culkin brothers as he left the smoke-filled building. "I ran down the stairway and saw the Culkins in the lobby," he said. Space heater to blame?
The building was not required to have sprinklers, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said. Some of the victims may have died when a blast of wind created a deadly fireball, he said. Investigators were looking into reports that a Christmas tree caught fire, Von Essen said. A space heater was removed from the Culkins' apartment. The New York City Fire Department said the fire started in the building on Manhattan's west side around 10 a.m. EST and was brought under control about three hours later. Two hundred firefighters were sent to the scene. Some residents said fire alarms could not be heard clearly when the fire broke out, and that they were unsure how to respond when the corridors filled with thick smoke.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Investigators on Thursday were trying to determine if a space heater ignited a Christmas tree in the Manhattan apartment of actor Macaulay Culkin's family, sparking a blaze that killed four people elsewhere in the high-rise. The fire broke out Wednesday in apartments 19D and 19E at the 51-story building that houses about 500 units on West 60th Street near Lincoln Center. The bodies of the four victims -- three women and a man -- were found in stairwells several floors above the fire. Police said they died of smoke inhalation. In a virtual repeat of the fire that killed 3 firefighters 5 days prior, the hallway and stairwell were converted into a 2000-degree smokestack trapping the first due Engine. Luckily the firefighters made it out with burns. Within minutes fire was showing through the 19th floor apartment's windows; clouds of black smoke billowed up along the buildings 51-story facade. Unlike the fire on Vandalia Avenue, this building was not required to have sprinklers in the hallways, only a firehose and standpipe in the stairwell.Twenty people -- including the four firefighters were injured. The Culkin family escaped unharmed, family publicist Paul Bloch said.
Neighbors said Macaulay's mother, Patricia Brentrup, and some of his six siblings, ranging in age from 10 to 22, still live in the two connected apartments on the 19th floor. Resident Steve Young said he saw some of the younger Culkin brothers as he left the smoke-filled building. "I ran down the stairway and saw the Culkins in the lobby," he said. Space heater to blame?
The building was not required to have sprinklers, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said. Some of the victims may have died when a blast of wind created a deadly fireball, he said. Investigators were looking into reports that a Christmas tree caught fire, Von Essen said. A space heater was removed from the Culkins' apartment. The New York City Fire Department said the fire started in the building on Manhattan's west side around 10 a.m. EST and was brought under control about three hours later. Two hundred firefighters were sent to the scene. Some residents said fire alarms could not be heard clearly when the fire broke out, and that they were unsure how to respond when the corridors filled with thick smoke.