A Harlem apartment fire early on Wednesday morning claimed the lives of a woman and a five-year-old girl, and left the youngster’s father critically injured, police reported.
Investigators are looking to determine whether a charging e-bike battery may have played a role in starting the deadly inferno.
Law enforcement sources said the blaze ignited at about 2:37 a.m. inside a sixth-floor apartment in the Jackie Robinson Houses at 110 East 129th St.
Upon arriving at the scene, police reported, officers from the 25th Precinct and NYPD PSA 5 located three victims in the residence: the five-year-old girl, her 46-year-old father and a 36-year-old woman, identified as the father’s girlfriend.
All three victims were unconscious and unresponsive, having apparently suffered from smoke inhalation, law enforcement sources said.
EMS rushed the man and girl to Harlem Hospital, where the child was pronounced dead and her father was listed in critical condition.
Meanwhile, paramedics brought the woman to Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, where she died a short time later. Police have withheld the identities of the girl and woman, pending family notification.
WABC-TV also reported that three dogs perished in the blaze.
Fire marshals are now investigating the cause of the deadly fire, police reported.
