FDNY officials told Eyewitness News they believe the fire was started by a lithium-ion battery.
Detectives charged 55-year-old Samuel Calderon, who is homeless, with two counts of murder, manslaughter, assault, burglary, petit larceny, criminal contempt and harassment.
The fire started on the 15th floor of the Boston Secor Houses. The FDNY was on the scene at the time to investigate a possible gas leak in the building.
As Monday night temperatures reach the lowest since February, several residents in a NYCHA apartment building in Harlem say they haven't had heat since Thanksgiving, and it's becoming dangerous.
Residents of NYCHA's Mitchel Houses in Mott Haven are able to stay in their apartments, but they are still without gas. Instead, the housing authority gave each of them a single hot plate.
A man has been arrested and charged in the rape of a 12-year-old girl inside a NYCHA apartment building in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.