Five Dead in Fulton House Fire

Fire marshals gather in front of the building on Saturday where five died after an early-morning fire inside Chelsea's Fulton Houses.

Five Dead in Fulton Houses Fire

By Heather Murray, Jefferson Siegel and Diane Vacca

A mother, father and three of their children died early Saturday from a fire that started inside their apartment at Chelsea's Fulton Houses complex, leaving a fourth child in critical condition after all inhaled noxious smoke from the blaze.

Fire marshals determined on Monday that "a kid playing with matches or a lighter" caused the fire, firefighter Alejandro Bartley said, with the inferno fueled by papers lying on a kitchen table.

Bartley added that "no appliances were plugged in and no electrical outlets were found in the vicinity of the kitchen table." Fire officials interviewed neighbors, who confirmed that children in the family had a history of playing with matches, he said.

Although the family sought refuge early Saturday morning from the fire by retreating to the bathroom and bedroom, there was no escape for the father, mother and three of their four kids, who all died of smoke inhalation.

Firefighters said the blaze started around 6:30 a.m. before spreading to the living room and hallway, blocking the only exit out of the seventh-floor unit. A neighbor in the apartment building at 401 W. 18th St., at Ninth Ave., called 911, and firefighters soon arrived on the scene. They found the father, 40-year-old Maschay Joa Valdez, with his 15-month-old daughter, Ruth Joa Balbuena, and his 10-year-old-son, Gonzan Joa Balbuena, crouched under bunk beds in a back bedroom of the unit. Firefighters found the mother, Delkis Balbuena, 34, and 8-year-old daughter, Nanncy Joa Balbuena, in a bathtub filled with water. Her 3-year-old daughter, Bet-el Joa Balbuena, was found under the sink. The 10-year-old is currently in critical condition at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

Miguel Acevedo, a Fulton Houses tenant advocate who lives across the street, had been on the scene since firefighters arrived. As the bodies were brought out blackened with soot, Acevedo said firemen were shaken and brought to tears. "One stood by the door praying," he said.

The family is believed to have emigrated from the Dominican Republic over a decade ago, and Acevedo said administrative records show they had been living in the apartment since 2006.

Lt. Anthony Mancuso, the director of Fire Safety Education, talked about the tragedy several hours after the fire took place.

"Part of the family went into the bathroom, and a bathroom isn't where you want to go," he told Chelsea Now. "A bathroom may not have a window."

He added that although some family members hid in a bedroom, "they may have left the door open," noting the importance of closing doors to keep a fire contained.

The Fulton Houses do not have fire escapes or a second means of egress, and the windows are covered by bolted-down metal guards.

Mancuso said it appeared the smoke alarm had been disconnected from the "hard-wire connection" and the battery removed.

"It's very easy to disconnect," he said. "Sometimes a family disconnects them because they cook a lot and it keeps going off." He added that a hard-wire connection meant the detector was plugged into an electrical outlet, but not connected to a central alarm system.

Nancy Santiago, a neighbor who lives next door to the family, said she smelled something burning on Saturday morning, but figured it was caused by cooking. Santiago added that her mother had heard fists beating on the wall next door, but attributed it to the children being rambunctious "because those children weren't quiet," she told Chelsea Now in Spanish.

Santiago denied that the fire started because of children playing with matches, a claim that has also been refuted by relatives of the family.

Heinz Kothe said in the 18 years he has been an NYC firefighter, he has never seen anything like this. "I've never seen six people taken out of a building before," he said.

Kothe said the family "just didn't have a choice" of where to go after the fire created a wall of smoke and flames engulfing the only exit out of the front door. They could have either attempted to jump out of their seventh-floor window or run through the flames, he said.

Kothe said the three-bedroom apartment should ideally have had at least two smoke alarms. "I tell my friends that you need a smoke detector everywhere—in all the bedrooms, in the hallway, the kitchen, the living room—and you've got to close bedroom doors at night," he said.

He added that the New York City Housing Authority, which owns and operates the complex, only installs one alarm per apartment because the steel doors in the fireproof building prevent fires from spreading from one apartment to another.

Firefighters told Chelsea Now that NYCHA had replaced the apartment's smoke detector in February and checked that it was in proper working order as recently as April.

NYCHA spokesperson Howard Marder confirmed the checks, adding that the authority follows all fire rules and regulations, and would not be putting any additional measures in place following the incident. "Fires unfortunately occur in apartments in NYC," Marder said.

An emergency fire education and safety forum for tenants and other neighborhood residents is tentatively scheduled for Weds., Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Community Center at 119 Ninth Ave., between 17th and 18th Sts.

Several hours after the fire was extinguished Saturday, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer stood outside the building. "It's a horrible tragedy," he said as fire marshals walked out of the building. "We work so closely with these tenants."