The Bronx fire that killed 12 was apparently caused by a 3-year-old child playing with the burners on a stove

Associated Press/Frank Franklin II

Firefighters respond to a deadly fire Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017, in the Bronx borough of New York.

• Investigators believe the deadly fire that ripped through a Bronx building Thursday evening was caused by a child playing with a stove, New York City officials said.
• The fire killed 12, including four children, making it the deadliest New York City blaze in decades.

The blaze that ripped through a Bronx building on Thursday night, killing 12, was caused by a small child playing with a stove in a first-floor apartment, New York City officials said Friday.

A three-year-old boy had been playing with the burner on the stove, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a news conference. He added that while the child's mother was in the apartment at the time, she was not directly watching him at the time.

Four children were among the dead, including a one-year-old, and an additional four were critically injured. The adult fatalities included seven women and five men, Nigro said.

Nigro called the fire "historic," and said it was the deadliest to occur in New York City since a blaze killed 87 at a social club in the Bronx in 1990.

"Although our members got here in a little over three minutes and bravely did everything they could - and did save a number of residents - this loss is unprecedented," he said.

The flames spread so quickly that the building's stairwell "acted like a chimney," and "people had very little time to react," Nigro said.

The blaze was first reported just before 7 p.m. Thursday and quickly spread to the upper floors of the five-story building, and was eventually brought under control by 10 p.m.