KEY POINTS

  • Four women were killed and one was injured after a fire raged a sixth-floor unit in an apartment in the Bronx
  • The blaze quickly escalated to three alarms after it tore through Apt. 603
  • The unit's resident said the fire may have been caused by a space heater her mother had turned on earlier
  • The women were found in two adjacent units
  • They were rushed to BronxCare Health System where they were pronounced dead

Four women were killed after a fire razed the top floor of an apartment building in the Bronx late Tuesday.

Officials told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that they responded to a call around 7:20 p.m. and rushed to the six-story apartment building at 1560 Grand Concourse near East Mount Eden Avenue.

Firefighters claimed that the blaze originated at Apt. 603. The fire quickly escalated to three alarms after razing the sixth-floor unit.

New York Fire
This representational image shows firefighters leave after putting out a major house fire on Prospect avenue in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dec. 28, 2017. Getty Images/ Amir Levy

140 firefighters helped put out the fire and was under control in less than two hours, said NBC New York.

Unit resident Joy Murdoch said that she was in the kitchen when the fire alarm went off and quickly noticed the fire coming from her mother's bedroom.

Murdoch occupied Apt. 603 together with her 99-year-old mother, Victoria Mc.Donald, who was in the living room when the fire started.

Murdoch said that the fire may have been caused by a space heater her mother had turned on earlier.

The women who died in the fire were found in two adjacent units, said the New York Post, citing their sources.

They were rushed to BronxCare Health System where they were pronounced dead.

Their identities were not immediately revealed.

The fire also injured one person, said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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