Fatal New York City fire ‘caused by child playing with stove’

A three-year-old boy playing with a kitchen stove started a fire in a New York City apartment building that killed 12 people, city officials have said.

Four children are among the dead.

A little before 7pm local time on Thursday, the child – who had been left unattended in the kitchen – started screaming as it filled with smoke and fire, the city's fire department commissioner Daniel Nigro told a news conference.

The child had a history of fiddling with the stove in his family's first-floor apartment, his mother told officials investigating the deadliest fire in the city since 1990.

"The stairway acted like a chimney," Nigro added.

The blaze swept out of the apartment to higher floors of the five-story building, fanned by fresh oxygen each time frightened tenants flung open windows.

"People had very little time to react. They couldn't get back down the stairs. Those that tried perished."

Children aged one, two and seven died along with four men and four women, local media reported. A boy, whose age was not known, also died.

Authorities said firefighters rescued 12 people from the building and four people were in the hospital in critical condition. More than 160 firefighters responded to the four-alarm blaze, the first arriving about three minutes after emergency calls came in.

About 20 people were already on fire escapes, Nigro said.

New York City is going through a bitter cold snap with below freezing temperatures and high winds.

"Children starting fires is not rare," Nigro said.

He emphasised that young children should not be left unattended, and those fleeing apartment fires should always shut doors behind them once the last person is out.

The building, with 26 apartments, has at least six open building code violations, according to city records.

BREAKING: @FDNY commissioner says cause of tragic #BronxFire was three year-old playing with his family’s gas stove. “He had a history of playing with fire.” 12 dead; 4 with very critical injuries. pic.twitter.com/bhE9MK8xFi

— N. J. Burkett (@njburkett7) December 29, 2017

One violation was for a broken smoke detector in an apartment on the first floor, reported in August.

"I know there were concerns raised about the building itself," Mayor Bill de Blasio told WNYC.

"Based on the research we have at this moment, it does not appear there was anything problematic about the building or the fire safety in the building."

The building is in the Belmont section of the Bronx, a primarily residential, close-knit neighbourhood known as the Little Italy of the borough, near Fordham University and the Bronx Zoo.

It was the deadliest fire in the city since an arsonist torched a Bronx nightclub in 1990, killing 87 people inside the venue that did not have fire exits, alarms or sprinklers, the New York Times reported.

In 2007, 10 immigrants from Mali, including nine children, died after a space heater caught fire in a Bronx building.