FDNY: Spike in fatalities

FIRES CLAIMED 73 lives across the city last year — a 52% increase over the number of fatalities a year earlier, FDNY officials said Thursday.

Nearly a third of the deaths took place during three horrific fires, including the Dec. 28 inferno on Prospect Ave. in the Bronx that killed 12 people, including four children.

Five people were killed in a fire on 208th St. in Jamaica, Queens, on April 23, and a mother and three children died when an oilburning menorah caught fire in Midwood, Brooklyn, on Dec. 18, FDNY officials said.

In 2016, 48 people died in fires — a record low for the 152-yearold department. In 2015, 59 city residents died in fires.

The Bronx fire that killed a dozen people was sparked as a child played with a stove and his panicked mother rushed him out of the apartment without closing the door — causing the fire to spread, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.

Despite the high number of fatalities, the FDNY saw an 8% drop in serious fires, officials said.

When 2017 drew to a close, the FDNY responded to 2,123 serious fires — 200 fewer than the 2,313 reported a year earlier.