FACTBOX-New York apartment fire was among deadliest in recent U.S. history

The apartment building fire https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-city-apartment-building-fire-critically-injures-32-officials-2022-01-09 in New York City that killed 17 people on Sunday was one of the deadliest in recent U.S. history, though the frequency of such blazes has decreased since the 1980s due in part to smoke alarm requirements.

The apartment building fire https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-city-apartment-building-fire-critically-injures-32-officials-2022-01-09 in New York City that killed 17 people on Sunday was one of the deadliest in recent U.S. history, though the frequency of such blazes has decreased since the 1980s due in part to smoke alarm requirements. The National Fire Protection Association (NFRA), a Massachusetts-based group that tracks data on residential fires in the United States, says that annual deaths in such blazes decreased from some 5,200 in 1980 to 2,720 in 2018.

Reported blazes dropped by over half during the same period, a decrease that the NFRA attributed to smoke alarm use, a decline in smoking indoors among Americans and better education about fire prevention, among other reasons. Below are other deadly residential fires in recent U.S. history:

Los Angeles apartment fire, 25 dead Some 25 people were killed when a man set fire to an apartment building in Los Angeles, California, in Sept. 1982 amid an argument with his uncle, who managed the building.

A California court in 1985 sentenced the man, who pleaded guilty to murder in a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, to 25 consecutive life sentences in prison. New Jersey apartment fire, 21 dead

There were 21 fatalities when a fire tore through a five-storey apartment building in Hoboken, New Jersey, near New York City, in Jan. 1979. The cause of the blaze was believed to be arson. At least 20 others were injured.

Tennessee elderly home fire, 16 dead A fire that broke out in an elderly care facility in Johnson City, Tennessee, in December 1989 killed 16 people, most of them residents.

Fire officials said the blaze was sparked by accident. At least fifteen firefighters were injured. Connecticut building fire, 14 dead

A man with a criminal history set fire to a pair of five-storey apartment buildings in Waterbury, Connecticut, in July, 1982, killing 14 people. A Connecticut court sentenced the man to two consecutive life terms over the fire. Police said at the time that the man had argued with his niece, who lived in one of the buildings, before setting the fire.

New York apartment fire, 13 dead Some 13 people were killed when a fire fueled by strong winds ripped through an apartment building in The Bronx borough of New York City in December 2017.

Authorities said at the time that the fire started when a child was playing with the burners of a stove. Until Sunday's blaze, the Dec. 2017 incident had been the deadliest New York City fire in more than a quarter century. Philadelpha apartment fire, 12 dead

Twelve people, including eight children, were killed when flames swept through a public housing apartment building in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Fire officials said the cause of the fire was still being investigated, but that the building was overcrowded, with 26 inside a structure meant to accommodate two families. They also cited the failure of smoke detectors.