A beloved fashion editor and her mother were among the three people killed in a fast-moving fire that tore through an Inwood apartment building, the Daily News has learned.
Yolaine Diaz, a former editor for People en Español, died with her mom while trying to escape the blaze that broke out in the six-story building on Dyckman St. near Broadway about 12:30 a.m. Monday.
“We are incredibly sad to hear about the loss of Yolaine,” People editors said in a statement to The News. Diaz left her role as fashion and beauty editor in 2023. “She continued to contribute regularly to fashion, beauty and entertainment,” the editors said.
Diaz, 48, and her 73-year-old mother, Ana Mirtha Lantigua, ended up collapsing in the building’s smoke-filled stairwell. Diaz’s father, who darted out onto the fire escape, survived and was seen by neighbors outside the building desperately searching for his wife and daughter.
“Her life was an example of seizing every moment, living life to the fullest in the most positive way,” fashion and beauty expert Kika Rocha, who worked with the victim at People en Español, told the Daily News. “She had this contagious laugh. Just seeing her was a delight.”
“She was always kind, always willing to give advice. Her legacy is that life should be enjoyed and cherished.”
Rocha noted that Yolaine died the morning of the Met Gala, fashion’s biggest night of the year.
“We waited eagerly to comment on the dresses,” Rocha wrote in a post on Facebook, remembering when she hired Diaz as an intern. “Over the years, that curious and passionate young woman became a key piece of our beauty team, a tireless accomplice of stories, star products and conversations that were always meant to inspire and serve other women.”
El Diaro on Tuesday called Diaz “a well-known figure in Hispanic journalism in New York.”
“The last time we saw each other was just fifteen days ago, at a Dolce & Gabbana event,” Rocha recalled.
“As always, we sat down to talk about what we loved most while toasting with a spritz: new releases, the secrets to radiant skin — her own, always perfect — and those little rituals that make a difference.”
A native of Bonao, Dominican Republic, and graduate of Lehman College, Diaz built a career at some of the publications most widely read by Hispanic audiences in the United States, El Diaro noted.
Diaz began work at People en Español as a beauty and fashion intern in 2004. She was later hired as a fact checker before rising to become a fashion and beauty editor.
Her work was featured in Ebony, Us Weekly and NewBeauty en Español as she covered red carpets and wrote about fashion trends with a focus on the Latino community.
“Her desire is to talk about beauty in a useful way, it was not just bragging about it,” Rocha said. “For her, it was her mission to teach women to take care of themselves, to make sure they enjoy the process of glamming up. She was all about that.”
Diaz had returned from a trip to Mexico about four days before she died in the fire, Rocha said.
“We were always close and in touch and discussing new things,” Rocha said. “She kept doing what she loved. She was still collaborating with special projects.”
“(Her) last message to me, on Sunday at 11:11 p.m., was just that: an inspiration,” Rocha wrote on Facebook. “An idea meant for me, to keep creating, to keep shining.”
Diaz lived with her parents and Bella, her 17-year-old dog, on the building’s fifth floor.
“She was her mom’s only daughter,” Rocha said. “They were tight together. They adored each other. Everything was beautiful in their relationship. The dog was very special to her.”
Diaz and her mother’s last moments were caught on building surveillance cameras, the superintendent’s brother told The News.
“The cameras show them going up and down, not sure how to get out,” said Pablo Rodriguez, 73. “If they’d gone up to the roof and crossed over, they would have been safe.”
The other victim who died was a man who lived on the fourth floor, Rodriguez said.
Medics treated 14 people, including a firefighter with minor injuries. In addition to the three residents who died at the scene, five more were hospitalized with critical injuries, FDNY officials said. Four more residents were taken to local hospitals with moderate or minor injuries.
The apartment building’s owners are being sued by the city for neglecting fire hazards at a neighboring property at 209 Dyckman St., court documents show. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development has filed a legal petition accusing Jan Jan Realty Corp., which building records list as also the owner of the fire-ravaged residence, of neglecting hundreds of unsafe code violations at the property next door.
About 100 residents were displaced by the fire. Tenants are not expected to move back into their apartments until Wednesday, Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa said.
Fire officials said that, once again, open doors near a central staircase allowed the flames to intensify and shoot upstairs to other apartments. Two young women were killed in the Bronx last week when the door to an apartment on fire was left open and the flames quickly raced up the stairs there.
