NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Thirteen people were in critical condition Monday following Sunday’s fire that left 17 people dead at a Bronx high-rise apartment building—the city’s deadliest fire in over 30 years.
Hospitals were working to try to save people gravely injured by smoke that trapped them in hallways and stairwells of the 19-story building, located at 333 E. 181st St. in Fordham Heights. In all, over 60 people were injured.
Officials initially said 19 people—10 adults and nine children—were killed in the fire. However, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that the medical examiner had revised the death toll down to 17, including nine adults and eight children.
Speaking on 1010 WINS Monday morning, Adams urged New Yorkers looking to help to donate to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City. He said all proceeds will go to the families.
"This is the time when we come together during a crisis," the mayor said.
At an afternoon press conference, Adams called the fire an "unspeakable tragedy." He said he'd received a call from President Joe Biden, who assured the mayor "the White House is going to be there for us."
"He has just sent a very strong message that this is on the radar of the entire globe," Adams said. "This is a global tragedy, because the Bronx and New York City is representative of the ethnicities and cultures across the globe. So everyone is feeling the pain of what we are experiencing."
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Sunday that the fire was caused by a malfunctioning electric space heater in the bedroom of a duplex apartment that spans the second and third floors.
While the fire only damaged a small part of the building, the smoke escaped through the apartment’s open door and poured into stairwells and hallways, trapping or incapacitating people as they fled.
"The smoke spread throughout the building, thus the tremendous loss of life and other people fighting for their lives right now," Nigro said.
Victims were found on every floor, many in cardiac and respiratory arrest. Some couldn't escape because of the volume of smoke.
Resident Joseph Brannigan remembered being overcome by smoke.
"All of the sudden I collapsed in the hallway," Brannigan said. "And what I remember is the fireman look down. I said, 'I can't breathe.’ And he broke my door in, quickly smashed all the windows, he dragged me into the apartment, he put an oxygen mask on me. He said, 'just stay here.'"
Speaking outside the building Sunday night, Adams praised the FDNY and first responders, saying they made rescues even as their air supplies dwindled.
"Their oxygen tanks were empty and they still pushed through the smoke," Adams said.
Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said FDNY staffing cuts may have affected the response to the fire. He said firefighters were cut last week and it made a difference.
"When you have 60 people that need to be removed from a building and you have less hands, people are going to be waiting, and when you're waiting in that smoke-filled environment, it's the difference between life and death," Ansbro said.
The FDNY has denied the claim, saying there was no staffing problem during Sunday's fire.
Adams told 1010 WINS that he has no reason to believe the FDNY crews were short.
"We always do an analysis of the manpower to determine do we have the proper manpower responding," the mayor said. "And I saw a good level of police and firefighters on the scene, and EMS employees. But we will continue to analyze to make sure we can always do a better job no matter what we do in the city."
The fire is the city's deadliest since an arson at the Happy Land social club in the Bronx killed 87 people in 1990.
Nigro said authorities are investigating how the fire spread and if anything could’ve been done to prevent or contain it.
Dozens of first responders remained at the building on Monday morning. Meanwhile, many residents spent the night in a middle school next door, seeking food and shelter.
Officials said Monday that a majority of residents from the building's 120 units had been given accommodations in at least four hotels.
The FDNY and Department of Buildings are working to determine if it’s safe for families to reenter. Officials are hopeful that people living above the third floor, which suffered the most damage, will be given the opportunity to return Monday at the earliest.
The third floor is uninhabitable, and residents there will need to be temporarily or permanently relocated, officials said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would establish a victim's compensation fund to help individuals affected by the deadly fire.
The governor said she held a mother who lost her entire family. "It's hard to fathom what they're going through," she said.
A GoFundMe page for families impacted by the fire had raised more than $350,000 by Monday morning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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