A hot plate, placed too close to bedding, has been determined as the accidental cause of a fatal fire in the Bronx, the FDNY said.
A man and his daughter, later identified as Nelson Rojas, 62, and Yolanda Rojas, 13, died after the fire broke out in their apartment on Sunday afternoon, officials said.
It’s the latest in a series of devastating fires, including a blaze in Belmont, Bronx, in late December that killed 13 people, including four children.
Sunday’s started just after noon in the fourth-floor apartment of a Throggs Neck Housing Authority building on Dewey Avenue, an FDNY spokeswoman said.
The Rojases were found inside the apartment, police said. They were rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in critical condition, where they were pounced dead.
Firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour before bringing it under control at about 1 p.m., the spokeswoman said. A total of 12 FDNY units responded. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
A makeshift memorial had been assembled outside the building, with friends an neighbors stopping by to light candles — or place a teddy bear or rose — by night.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, police said on Sunday.
A fire in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, sparked by an unattended menorah, led to the deaths of a mother and her three children less than a month ago. The Belmont blaze, the most destructive in 27 years, was caused by a 3-year-old boy playing with a gas stove, authorities said.
