A fire broke out on the Upper West Side of Manhattan yesterday morning, resulting in the death of 78-year-old William Green. The blaze occurred within an apartment on the 10th floor of a 12-story building intended for elderly residents known as Hargrave House. According to ABC7 New York, the fire started around 7:30 a.m. on West 71st Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Ave.
Responding to the incident with roughly 80 firefighters, the FDNY fought the flames which were extinguished by around 8 a.m. The victim, William Green, was found by first responders to be unconscious and unresponsive; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Contending with the task of uncovering what sparked the fire, fire marshals are still investigating its cause as of yesterday afternoon, as mentioned by New York Daily News.
Hargrave House, where the fire took place, is a moderate-income housing complex that offers state-funded social services to residents over age 62. One of the building's residents, who has lived there for three years and chose to remain anonymous, reflected on the incident, saying a friend had witnessed Green's health "go down, down, down" over the years. "There could have been other fatalities," she said, expressing her concerns to New York Daily News. She postulated that perhaps Green needed a higher level of assisted-living services than the building could offer.
The incident on the Upper West Side was not an isolated event; firefighters put out four other fires across the city earlier yesterday. An individual sustained injuries in one such fire in a South Jamaica apartment, which saw 60 responding firefighters bring the situation under control in approximately an hour. This injured person was transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, as reported by New York Daily News. Other fires occurred at a Whitestone house, an Astoria shoe store, and a Throgs Neck apartment, with no injuries reported.
During the wake of this event, Green's son, an upper Manhattan resident, declined to provide comments when contacted last night.
