“It’s going to kill everybody,” she said.Mr. Romero looked at his wife carrying their unborn child, his 19-year-old son, Anthony, his 7-year-old daughter, Jlana, and summoned soothing words. “We’re here together. We’re going to be all right.” He said nothing about the fear ramping up in his mind.Next door, in 12N, Tatiana Strahn, 28, grabbed a sweater and held it over her mouth, then charged out of her apartment. Her 2-year-old son, Owen, was three floors up at her aunt’s home, and nothing could stop her from going after him. Not so long ago, she had lost two family members in a fire in the Dominican Republic.Her eyes stinging from the smoke, Ms. Strahn felt for the staircase walls to guide her up through the dark. On the 15th floor, she bumped into a boy about 8 or 9 years old who was on his way down. “What are you doing here?” she shouted. “Where’s your mom? Get into an apartment, get out of the stairs!”His eyes were big and confused. “She’s coming down,” he said, then turned and scurried back up.In the hallway, Ms. Strahn called out to her aunt: “Maria!” A door flung open. Her aunt rushed out carrying Owen, his face pressed into her neck. The three headed down the stairs.Back inside her home, Ms. Strahn began to panic. Smoke was flowing in, and now she had six people to worry about. Aunt Maria who suffered from anxiety. Owen and her 4-year-old daughter, Leilani. The children’s father, Efrain Sifuentes, on his usual weekend visit, who had a broken leg and was on crutches.Charely, her older sister from Connecticut, was also here, having surprised her for the weekend to tell her she was pregnant. She had brought her 11-year-old daughter, Yoriely. And then there were the two golden retrievers.Ms. Strahn ordered everyone into the least smoky bedroom while she wedged blankets at the entrance to their duplex and attempted to seal the door’s edges with packing tape. Mr. Sifuentes filled pots with water to drench the area, hobbling back and forth from the sink.