Got stuck open amid fire panic: resident
A resident of the Bronx apartment where Sunday’s deadly blaze began acknowledged to The Post on Monday that he had apparently pushed the front door of his unit back so far while trying to save his daughter that it got stuck.
Mamadou Wague, 47, said he didn’t even realize the door was left open until he was told about it by fire officials later.
Apartment doors in the 19-story Tremont building are supposed to be self-closing to prevent the spread of fires, but the unit’s door may have “malfunctioned,” allowing smoke to spread through the high-rise and killing at least 17 people, authorities said.
“When you push the door all the way to the edge, it didn’t close by itself,” recalled Wague, who was in the apartment with his wife and eight kids when the fire started.
“I don’t even remember the door staying open, because all I could think about was getting everybody out,” he said.
“I heard my kids screaming, ‘Fire! Fire!’ in their room,” he said. “I told them, ‘Everybody get out!’
“When we were downstairs, I was told my daughter Nafisha was still in her bed, so I ran back up. There was fire everywhere, on the mattress, on my daughter. She had burns on her right side.
“When there’s so much smoke and fire, all you can think is, ‘If I don’t get out of here, I will die.’
“I could only think about getting her out, getting her safe.
“I actually thought later that the door had shut, but the Fire Department people told me it had stayed open,’’ he said.
“I feel very, very sorry for the people who died. I’m praying for them. I’m praying for everybody.”
Wague said his wife and daughter were still hospitalized with injuries on Monday.
Past violations
A review of records by The Post found that the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development had repeatedly slapped violations on the then-landlord over malfunctioning self-closing doors at the 120-unit building.
Inspectors with the agency cited the tower six times between 2013 and 2019 for failing to keep the doors in working order, the records show.
Two of the violations cited problems with doors on the third and 15th floors, where authorities say malfunctioning doors let smoke fill the building Sunday morning.
‘It malfunctioned’
City officials on Monday zeroed in on Wague’s open door for allowing choking smoke to spread.
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a press briefing that the fire itself was contained in and near the duplex but added that smoke spewing through the open doorway proved deadly.
The door “was not functioning as it should,” Nigro said. “The doorway was not obstructed. When the door was fully opened, it stayed fully open because it malfunctioned.
“The fire was contained to the hallway just outside the two-story apartment, but the smoke traveled throughout the building, and the smoke is what caused the deaths and serious injuries.”
An open door on a 15th-floor stairwell contributed to the tide of smoke, Nigro added.
A resident on the building’s third floor told The Post, “My door does not close by itself.’’
“If I open my door, I have to close it right quick because sometimes there be flies in the hall I don’t want coming in,” said the woman, who gave only her first name, Jackie.
“If I don’t close my door myself, my door will stay wherever I put it.”
Jackie said she jammed towels around her door frame during Sunday’s blaze, cut the screen outside her window and leaned outside to breathe until firefighters came to her rescue.
Heat problems
Authorities have said a faulty space heater in a bedroom in Wague’s apartment likely sparked the blaze.
Jackie said the building’s heating system had not been strong enough to keep residents warm that morning.
“They’re sending up just enough heat to say they’re sending up heat, but it’s not enough to keep you warm, and if you don’t use a space heater, then you use your oven,” Jackie said. “You can’t lounge around without a house coat on.”
Mayor Adams promised on Monday that fire marshals would conduct an “extremely thorough” investigation into the disaster — including examining the potentially faulty doors.
“We have a law here that requires doors to close automatically, Adams said on CNN’s “New Day” Monday morning. “We are looking at [that] through the investigation with the fire marshals, who will be extremely thorough with the investigation.”