A massive fire tore through an apartment building in New York City on Sunday morning, leaving more than 63 people injured and “numerous fatalities” expected, the city’s fire commissioner said.The five-alarm fire was described as one of the city’s worst in decades, with people requiring rescue from every stairwell inside the 19-story building while suffering from cardiac and respiratory arrest, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters at the scene.Nineteen people, nine of whom are children, were killed, The Associated Press reported, citing a fire official and city official who were not authorized to speak publicly.New York City Mayor Eric Adams, at an earlier press conference, had said 32 of the more than 63 victims suffered life threatening injuries and that nine were serious and 22 were non-life-threatening.Emergency personnel from the FDNY are seen responding to an apartment building fire in the Bronx on Sunday.Lloyd Mitchell via Reuters“We expect there to be numerous fatalities,” said Nigro, who called the large number of life-threatening injuries “unprecedented” for the city.“The last time we had a loss of life that may be this horrific was the Happy Land Fire. That was over 30 years ago, also here in the Bronx,” he said. That 1990 blaze, which was determined to have been an act of arson, killed 87 people.It was not immediately known how this fire started, though Nigro said a door had been left open at the apartment where the fire started, allowing its smoke and flames to quickly spread. Firefighters responded within three minutes of the first 911 call, though the smoke quickly extended the entire height of the building, Nigro said, which was “completely unusual.”“This is going to be one of the worst fires that we have witnessed during modern times here in the city of New York,” said Adams.More than 63 people were injured in the five-alarm fire that left victims requiring rescue from all stairwells of the 19-story Bronx building, the city’s fire commissioner said.