Neighbors support one another after radiator blast

Community members are showing growing support for the family as the investigation continues into a radiator malfunction that left two toddlers dead in Hunts Point. It happened in a so-called cluster

News 12 Staff

Dec 10, 2016, 6:15 AM

Updated 2,862 days ago

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Community members are showing growing support for the family as the investigation continues into a radiator malfunction that left two toddlers dead in Hunts Point.
It happened in a so-called cluster shelter at 720 Hunts Point Ave. Wednesday. 
Investigators say a valve burst, spouting scalding steam killed Scylee Vayoh Ambrose and Ibanez Ambrose, 1 and 2 years old.
A memorial outside has been steadily growing since the accident happened. The family had been living in the apartment for less than a year.
And as the community has shown support for the Ambroses, neighbors say the mourning parents donated their babies' clothing to a family next door.
The medical examiner ruled the girls' deaths accidental on Thursday, citing hyperthermia and heat-related injuries from the steam.
The girls' parents are not facing criminal charges, but sources tell News 12 they were the subject of six different child welfare cases in Maine and New York in the past.
As News 12 has reported, cluster shelters are privately owned apartments used by the city as shelter housing.
A neighbor in the building say he's had radiator problems twice in the last year, which went unrepaired after he reported sparks and loud noises to the city. He says he's currently taking the landlord to court.
Four other families living in cluster shelters in the building are being relocated, officials said earlier in the week. The Ambroses have also been moved to temporary housing.
Mourners say they are not only heartbroken but frustrated.
"I'm angry a building that's supposed to be a shelter and protect women and their children, it's an atrocity," says neighbor Renee Cucchi.
Neighbors say they are demanding answers from the city.
The Bronx District Attorney's Office also said Thursday that it would investigate landlord Moshe Piller, who was on the public advocate's list of worst landlords in 2014 and 2015, but not 2016.
News 12 is told the Ambroses have stopped by their old home and have seen the outpouring of support from the community.