2nd Man Dies After Upper East Side Building Fire

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A second man has died following the fire that tore through a residential building on the Upper East Side last week, officials told Patch on Monday.

The fire broke out just before 8:30 a.m. last Wednesday in a four-story building on the corner of Second Avenue and East 82nd Street. One victim, an 83-year-old man, was hospitalized and died later that day, police said.

The second victim, initially identified as an 81-year-old man who suffered critical injuries, died one day after the fire on Thursday, an FDNY spokesperson said this week.

An accident involving the power strip is what caused the fire, authorities said.

The two men lived on separate floors of the building, FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Michael Ajello told reporters last week. Authorities have not released either man's name.

After news footage showed piles of furniture thrown onto the street, Ajello alluded to at least one of the homes being cluttered, saying the firefighting had been impeded by "a large amount of contents in the apartments, which hinders our fire advance and our searches."

Residents in all six apartments in the building were evacuated, while a firefighter was hospitalized with minor injuries. Fresh Bites and Juice Bar, a corner store that had opened in the building just weeks earlier, suffered damage.

It took more than 130 firefighters over 90 minutes to bring the fire under control, which they finally did around 10 a.m. Wednesday