Firefighters got numerous calls for people trapped in their apartments by smoke at the city-run Eastchester Gardens just before 3:15 a.m.
Twelve units with 60 fire and EMS personnel arrived on scene. Fire crews were met by heavy smoke and fire streaming out of an apartment window.
A 70-year-old man was found in the rear of a fourth-floor apartment and pronounced dead at the scene.
The man's identity has not yet been released.
He is now the 14th person age 65 or older to die in a fire since November 9.
A troubling pattern over the past two months shows a notable increase in older New Yorkers dying in fires:
Of the at least 60 people who have died in fires so far the year, 38 of them were 65 years or older -- about 63%
At this time last year, the city had seen 73 fire fatalities, but only 32 were 65 years or older (43%)
Only around 13% of the city's population is 65 or older.
Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the fire.
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