{"id":801046,"date":"2026-05-16T17:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T17:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/801046\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T17:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T17:33:21","slug":"fire-deaths-skyrocket-across-nyc-as-families-suffer-crippling-loss-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/801046\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire deaths skyrocket across NYC as families suffer crippling loss, despair"},"content":{"rendered":"

A distraught father recalled being caught between hope and despair:<\/a> hope for his 6-year old twins critically injured in a raging fire at his Bronx home, and despair for the 1-year-old boy who didn\u2019t make it out alive.<\/p>\n

\u201dI have all their names tattooed on my arm,\u201d Kwesi Harris\u00a0 said after a Monday afternoon fire ripped through his second floor apartment.<\/a> \u201cBut not Liam because he was just born. I\u2019m still going to put his name on my arm though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of the year, fires have torn apart families and sowed despair across New York.<\/p>\n

The number of people who have died in fires so far this year has increased 50% over the same period last year. Through the first four-and-half months of 2026, 42 people, from young toddlers just learning to walk to elderly grandparents enjoying their retirement, have been killed in fires across the city. That\u2019s an increase from the 28 people who died in fires during the same months last year.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s dead include a fashion editor and her mother who perished in a blaze in Inwood, a Brooklyn man and his elderly mother who died when their shared Crown Heights apartment went up in flames and two victims killed in a fire that broke out above a Bronx bodega.<\/p>\n

\"DominicanDominican journalist and former fashion and beauty editor for People en Espa\u00f1ol, Yolaine Diaz (inset), was one of three people killed in a fire in an apartment building on Dyckman St. near Broadway in Inwood early Monday, May 4, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News; Instagram)<\/p>\n

Though most of the fires had different causes \u2014 a flicked cigarette in Manhattan, and a twisted arson in the Bronx<\/a> \u2014 they each had two common threads, grief and pain.<\/p>\n

The sorrow in Manhattan reverberated throughout the fashion industry after Yolaine Diaz, 48, a former editor for People en Espa\u00f1ol, died with her mom, Ana Mirtha Lantigua, 73, while trying to escape a\u00a0 blaze that broke out in the six-story building on Dyckman St. near Broadway in Inwood on May 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are incredibly sad to hear about the loss of Yolaine,\u201d People magazine editors said in a statement to The News. Diaz left her position as fashion and beauty editor in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe continued to contribute regularly to fashion, beauty and entertainment,\u201d the editors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer life was an example of seizing every moment, living life to the fullest in the most positive way,\u201d fashion and beauty expert Kika Rocha, who worked with the victim at People en Espa\u00f1ol, told the News. \u201cShe was always kind, always willing to give advice. Her legacy is that life should be enjoyed and cherished.<\/p>\n

That fire also claimed the life of Lance Garcia, 25, who perished saving his mother, who remains hospitalized in critical condition, unaware that her son made the ultimate sacrifice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want him to be remembered as a hero,\u201d said Garcia\u2019s best friend, Kris Florentino. \u201cHis personality was very quiet but he always kept an eye out for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LanceLance Garcia (inset) was one of three people killed in a fire in an apartment building on Dyckman St. near Broadway in Inwood early Monday, May 4, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News; GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

A building tenant, Victor Arias, 29, was later arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide for allegedly sparking the May 4 blaze by flicking his lit cigarette into a pile of cardboard boxes at the bottom of the building\u2019s staircase.<\/p>\n

Also reeling from a fire death are friends and relatives of Oreste Deleon, 70, a Bronx landlord who died along with two tenants on May 6 when an arsonist torched his Mott Haven building.<\/a><\/p>\n

A suspect was arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter in an incident sources say was potentially sparked by a\u00a0 drug debt.<\/a><\/p>\n

The building had been in Deleon\u2019s family for generations, Deleon\u2019s niece, Salina Rivera said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building is gone. The deli is gone. And our family is left grieving the sudden loss of our family member. Losing him in such a tragic and violent way has left our family heartbroken and overwhelmed,\u201d Rivera wrote on GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not just a property \u2014 it was my grandmother\u2019s childhood home, her late mother\u2019s home, and a place filled with decades of memories, and history. It also housed the deli she rented out, which used to be my great grandmother\u2019s and was recently renovated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OresteOreste Deleon (inset) was one of three people killed when an arsonist allegedly set fire to de Leon\u2019s Bronx building on 3rd Ave. near E. 140th St. on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News; GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

The GoFundMe pages, like the one Rivera launched, revealed much about this year\u2019s fire tragedies.<\/p>\n

And while many of the headlines have focused victims who were killed, the fires also exacted a heavy toll on residents who survived, like Sasha Denham and Evan Frank.<\/p>\n

Dunham and Frank managed to flee\u00a0 the Inwood fire by climbing down the building\u2019s fire escape, but the ordeal for them continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe damage to our building is severe and we have not been allowed back inside,\u201d Dunham wrote in a GoFundMe fundraising post<\/a>. \u201cWe know that all of our furniture has been lost to smoke and water damage, along with the materials for our livelihoods in NY\u2019s theater scene. We are now displaced outside of NYC and raising funds to start over and get back into the city. We will need new housing; along with new furniture, clothing, and essentials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Displacement is a common theme among the fires\u2019 living victims. A deadly fire that ripped through a five-story building in the Bronx\u2019 Belmont section resulted in a vacate order for all 27 apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re basically homeless now, we\u2019ve lost everything,\u201d tenant Luciano Silva told News12. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to pick up the pieces to see where we can go, where we can live now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silva was among those who gathered in the basement of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church<\/a> to collect necessities like soap, toothpaste and clothes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this is donations,,\u201d Father Carlos Germosen, the church\u2019s parochial vicar, told the news station. \u201cThis happened really quickly to put all this stuff together and it\u2019s really awesome to see the community come together to support those who are suffering.<\/p>\n

\"BasicBasic necessary items, including food, clothes and hygiene products, are pictured at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church at the corner of E. 187th St. and Belmont Ave. in the Bronx on April 22, 2026. (Sheetal Banchariya\u00a0\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Fire officials said they had no simple explanation for the dramatic increase in fire-related deaths.<\/p>\n

The loss of life has sparked a public service campaign<\/a> to enforce laws mandating self-closing doors in apartment buildings, and reminders to tenants to close doors to keep fires from spreading.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had fire going into nine apartments. That\u2019s what made it such a difficult fire,\u201d said retiring FDNY Lt. Michael Conboy, who worked the Inwood blaze. \u201cIf we do everything right, people are still going to die sometimes. But if you do everything right, people are going to live, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A distraught father recalled being caught between hope and despair: hope for his 6-year old twins critically injured…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":801047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-801046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-crime","23":"tag-sub-county-region","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116585458116111651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}