Deadly apartment fire in Bronx kills 19

[Deleted member 215]

At least 17 dead, including 9 children, in massive fire at NYC apartment; 63 injured in total

Investigators said a malfunctioning electric space heater caused the fire.

6abc.com

The dead include 9 children (so far--there are many more injured and in critical condition). This follows a few days after a similar fire in a townhome in Philadelphia killed 12, including 8 children. In both cases, the victims were mostly black and low-income. I hate to hand-wring and say "this shouldn't be happening", but this shouldn't be happening. Living conditions in a country like the U.S. shouldn't be this sub-standard.

 

[Clix Pix]

The Washington Post article is saying that the theory right now is that the cause was a space heater. That wouldn't be unusual, as a lot of times those things DO cause fires either due to being defective or being placed too near something flammable.

 

[Deleted member 215]

Also heard that the fire spread more easily because the owners of the apartment where the fire started left the door open when they fled.

 

[AG_PhamD]

Devastating. And tragic considering the fatal fire in Philadelphia. I just changed the batteries in my smoke/CO detectors because of this.

You have to wonder if these buildings had commercial fire alarm systems. You’d think being such large, multi family buildings they would… and that it would be required.

The building I live in is a 100+ year old brownstone that’s thankfully been renovated many times over in that time- including having sprinkler heads in our kitchen and building hallways. We just had our building-wide fire alarm system, replacing a system that was from the early 90’s. It cost something like $14k for this project.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen buildings fire alarms go off and the fire department not come- I suspect because the property didn’t pay their alarm service bill.

I am a business owner of a residential treatment facility. I think we pay $70/month for the fire alarm service IIRC. The real cost comes with false alarms. If the alarm goes off it costs $300 for the alarm company to come and inspect and reset the alarm. You can also get fined from the fire department, here it’s on an escalating scale. For example, we were getting $200 fines when the alarm was going off for the 5th time in a week from our patients vaping inside (obviously against our the rules). I know a business owner in the same industry as mine that spent over $10k in a year due to vaping.

I also suspect we have a problem flying under the radar in this country of property owners and HOAs/Condo Associations not actually having enough money on hand to properly maintain their buildings. Or deferring maintenance due to a profit motive. That was likely part of the situation with the apartment collapse in FL. I suspect many cities lack the number of building inspectors they need too.

 

[ronntaylor]

Some of the worst, most devastating fires in NYC the last few decades have been in the Bronx. This is so sad coming so close to the horrific fire in Philly. The father was so upset knowing that the faulty space heater and door left open caused so many deaths.