The looks of disbelief, the smell of smoke and the utter anguish of those who got out, but lost relatives or who are still desperately looking for them. It all feels too familiar in the Bronx. 

This most recent fire tragedy at the Twin Parks North West apartments is not the first mass casualty fire in the borough. And it's not the deadliest. 

What You Need To Know

  • The four fires in New York with the most number of casualties have all been in the Bronx

  • The deadly high rise fire in Fordham Heights was the deadliest blaze since the Happy Land fire in 1990

  • There are similarities between some of the mass causality fires, including faulty space heaters and not closing the front door while evacuating from a blaze

Sunday's blaze brings back painful memories of the fire in the Bronx that killed 87 people at the Happy Land Social Club. It happened on March 25, 1990. Fernando Ferrer was the Bronx Borough president at the time. 

"I got there about the same time Mayor Dinkins did,” said Ferrer. “I saw the body bags on sidewalk, starting to pile up. And we both agreed we needed to go inside. I’m not going to describe for you what I saw ,but it still haunts me. Those are images I will never forget.”

The social club was intentionally set on fire by Julio Gonzalez, who was seeking revenge on his former girlfriend, an employee there. Happy Land is among the four deadliest fires in our city’s recent history, each of which took place in the Bronx.

“The Bronx is no stranger to deadly fires,” said Congressman Ritchie Torres Monday night.

Congressman Torres was talking about an apartment fire in the Belmont section that left 13 people dead in December of 2017. Officials say the blaze was started by a 3-year-old boy who was playing with the burners on a stove. The family escaped, but similar to Sunday’s fire, they left their front door open. 

And in March of 2007, 10 people died, 9 of them children, in a fire on Woodycrest Avenue in Highbridge. That fire was sparked by an overheated space heater, the same type of appliance fire officials believe sparked the deadly fire at Twin Parks. 

“The Bronx continues to have many challenges and fires continue to be one of them. We’ve had some of the worst fires in the city of New York right here in the Bronx,” said Council Member Osvaldo Feliz. 

Ferrer says the healing from the emotional trauma for these families and the communities as a whole will take time. 

“From the tragedy of 30 years ago, people are still healing. You never get over the loss of a loved one, a wife, a husband, children, parents," said the former Bronx Borough president.