Authorities identify 4 members of family killed in Bronx fire
NEW YORK – Authorities have identified the four people – including three children – who were killed in a devastating house fire Sunday.
Monday morning, police said Mohamed Waleed Ahmed, 12, Kahleed Waleed Ben Saleh, 10, and Barah Saleh, just 10 months, were killed in the fire on Quimby Avenue in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx. Barah’s father Ahmed Saleh, 22, was also killed. Kahleed and Mohamed were Ahmed’s brothers.
Fire officials say just after 6 a.m. Sunday they arrived at 2165 Quimby Ave., where they saw flames spilling out of the windows of the house. Merlyn Persaud, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly two decades, said she’ll never forget what she heard.
“I heard the noise, ‘Allah, Allah,’ the banging at the window. I jumped, was sleeping on the couch, came to the window, the hands banging at the window. ‘Allah, Allah.’ After that, for like a minute the flames burst through the window,” Persaud said.
“We did have slight extension to the building next to the fire building. We have several firefighter injuries, minor in nature,” FDNY Assistant Chief Kevin Brennan said
The neighbor living next door recalled helping to rescue a mother and child — a family he knows well. Their children used to play together.
“I came out to the front of my house and open the window. I grabbed her and her child and put her inside. Then I took them downstairs, then told my family to run downstairs,” Imlaque Chowdhury said.
Police said a 21-year-old woman and 41-year-old man were also pulled out of the inferno, rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals Jacobi in critical condition.
On Sunday afternoon, Mayor Eric Adams visited the remains of the home and promised to help the community recover.
“We are going to be here for the family to make sure we can assist with all the burials and all the support they need at this time,” Adams said.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said more should be done to prevent tragedies like this.
“We had a horrific fire a few months ago in Unionport, one is Westchester. I mean, this is ongoing. We have fires in this borough almost every single week, and certainly any fire is one too many,” Gibson said. “We have to learn from so many other painful lessons from the past, of making sure we have smoke detectors that are working. October is Fire Safety Awareness Month, but it needs to be every single month.”
“I think the goal is to make sure we do whatever is possible to prevent fires throughout the entire city, and the more information we give, the more information we share, the more proactive we are, the better chances we have to do that,” Adams added.
Source CBC News.
