At least 6 dead in Bronx building fire

NEW YORK (AP) - At least six people died and more were seriously injured Thursday in a fire that broke out in an apartment building on a frigid night in the Bronx, according to a spokesman for New York City's mayor.

The blaze was in a five-story building, a block from the grounds of the Bronx Zoo. A spokesman for Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, Eric Phillips, said there were six fatalities but the eventual death toll was still uncertain.

About 170 firefighters worked in bone-chilling cold, just 15 degrees, to rescue people from the building.

The mayor planned to head to the scene, Phillips said.

Photographs and video of the building seemed to show that the fire, which was reported just before 7 p.m., appeared to be under control. No smoke or flames were visible but windows on the third floor were smashed and blackened.

One of the deadliest fires in recent memory happened elsewhere in the Bronx in 2007. Nine children and one adult died in a blaze sparked by a space heater.