NEW YORK (AP) -- A fire that tore through a house early Monday and killed three people, including a 12-year-old boy, was caused by an electrical problem, investigators said.
A 16-year-old boy who was rescued from the Brooklyn fire was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition.
The fire in the three-story wood-frame house was reported by a passer-by shortly after midnight. It likely began in wiring in the walls between the second and third floors, investigators said.
The three people who died were found in a third-floor attic, which had no smoke-detecting device, the investigators said. Chismene Vixame, 49, and Marie Vixame, 76, died of burns at the scene. Bergino Dodard, 12, was pronounced dead from burns at a hospital.
There was a smoke detector on the first floor of the house and a nonfunctioning detector on the second floor.
Fourteen people lived at the house, but it was unclear how many were home at the time and escaped the fire. Eleven of them lived on the second and third floors.
More Brooklyn news...
E-Mail Story
Print Story
