Twelve killed in deadliest New York City fire in quarter century

A rapidly spreading blaze at an apartment building in New York killed 12 people in what officials said is the deadliest fire in the city in decades.

The fire broke out around 7 p.m. Thursday on a frigid winter night in the first floor of a five-story building in the Bronx and moved quickly through the roughly 100-year-old structure in the Belmont neighborhood.

The dead included a child of about 1 year old; the oldest victim was in their 50s, New York City officials said. The bodies of victims were found on multiple floors.

'This is the worst fire tragedy we've seen in this city in at least a quarter century,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference near the scene.

'In a department that is certainly no stranger to tragedy, we're shocked by this loss,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.

Emergency responders took four people in critical condition and others with serious injuries to hospitals. At least a dozen people survived the fire after being rescued, officials said.

More than 150 firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, which came amid below-freezing temperatures in New York.