Teen Dies, Four Critically Injured in Bronx Apartment Fire

A fire erupted around 12:50 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at 320 Morris Ave. in the Patterson Houses public housing development in Mott Haven, the Bronx. FDNY firefighters responded and extracted five people from the 11th-floor apartment. A boy aged roughly 12–16 was transported to Jacobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Four relatives suffered severe burns and smoke inhalation and required intubation: a second boy in the same age range in grave condition at Jacobi, a 15-year-old at Lincoln Hospital in critical condition, a 37-year-old man at Harlem Hospital in critical condition, and a 33-year-old woman at Lincoln Hospital in critical condition. Firefighters brought the blaze under control within approximately 90 minutes. The fire appears to have originated in the kitchen; a lithium-ion battery was found in the apartment, though investigators have not confirmed whether it played a role. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.