Early yesterday morning, a two-alarm fire broke out on the 12th floor of an Upper East Side apartment building. Nineteen people—10 civilians and nine firefighters—were injured. The FDNY is still investigating, but there's some suspicion it may have been caused by a careless smoker.
The Post reports, "Fire marshals are investigating the blaze, which may have been sparked by someone smoking on the 12th floor... A neighbor who lives on the 13th floor said a firefighter 'told me ... it was a lit cigarette that fell on a mattress on the 12th floor.'"
Another disturbing report: Apparently the building's "centralized alarm system did not detect the fire and a security guard in the building's lobby had to be alerted about the fire by a passerby," per NBC New York. One resident said, "I didn't even know there was a fire. There was just black all over the floor. "I grabbed my friends and yelled to my partner 'we gotta get out!'" And a longtime resident told DNAinfo, "This is like the twelfth fire in the last two years. We have so many fires in this building. It just doesn't make sense. I think something is very wrong."
