Malfunctioning doors may have cost lives in apartment fire

Investigators examining the reliability of building's self-closing doors

NEW YORK CITY, NY (KLKN) – The New York City apartment fire that killed 17 may have been so deadly due to malfunctioning doors.

According to Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, Sunday’s blaze was started by a malfunctioning space heater that set a mattress on fire.

The apartment building had safety doors which are supposed to self-close when fires start.  However, the door to the apartment where the fire began did not close.  This allowed smoke to escape and fill the building.

Investigators are now looking in to why the doors malfunctioned.  Building workers tested the doors again on Sunday after the fire, and a few didn’t close as they should have, including the door to the apartment where the fire began.

The fire is NYC’s deadliest in three decades, with at least 44 injured and 17 dead.