A faulty space heater on a chilly Sunday morning sparked a fire that filled a high-rise Bronx apartment building with thick smoke, killing 19 people including nine children. It was New York City’s deadliest fire in three decades.

Trapped residents broke windows for air and stuffed wet towels under doors as smoke rose from a lower-floor apartment where the fire started. Multiple limp children were seen being given oxygen after they were carried out. Evacuees had faces covered in soot.

Firefighters found victims on every floor, many of them in cardiac and respiratory arrest, said Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro. Some people “could not escape because of the volume of smoke,” he said. More than five dozen people were hurt and 13 people were hospitalized in critical condition. The fire commissioner said most of the victims had severe smoke inhalation.

Mayor Eric Adams praised FDNY firefighters for continuing to make rescues even after their oxygen tanks had run out.

Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser to Adams, said the children who died were 16 years old or younger. Adams said at a news conference that many residents were originally from the West African nation of Gambia.