Monday, January 30, 2012

Man dies from fire in illegal basement apartment


From NBC New York:

A man died as a result of an early-morning house fire in the Bronx Sunday, authorities said.

Firefighters and police were called to 1120 E. 225th St. at about 5:20 a.m. Sunday, where a fire had apparently started in the basement of the three-family apartment building.

Battalion Fire Chief George Campbell said crews were able to knock the fire out quickly, but faced thick smoke in the basement. "The fire was under the garage, the concrete floor," he said. "That holds everything in -- the heat, the smoke. So we had to cut a hole out."

A man in his 60s was removed from the basement apartment and taken to Montefiore North Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, said police.

A woman was also removed from the apartment and taken to Jacobi Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition, police said.

Investigation is ongoing, but police said the fire did not appear to be criminal in nature.


Hey, take a look here.

The illegal conversion at this address was discovered in 2004.

It's been on file for years that the condition was never corrected.

Another complaint about the illegally converted basement was put in this past October, but DOB never got around to inspecting the place.

So should we be surprised about this? Will there be any discipline handed down?

The NY Post has most of the story.

7 comments:

Helen Marshall said...

Who am I?
Where am I?
What is this all about in my "beloved borough"?

Anonymous said...

An illegal basement apartment in NYC? I'm shocked, shocked, shocked!

FlushingRepresenter said...

Illegal conversion? In QUeens?

No no, that stuff doesn't happen here, that type of thing is reserved for the Upper East Side and the likes.

Anonymous said...

he illegal conversion at this address was discovered in 2004.

It's been on file for years that the condition was never corrected.

Another complaint about the illegally converted basement was put in this past October, but DOB never got around to inspecting the place.
---

You see this is the problem of NOT letting your electeds know about this and DEMANDING that they handle it - yea, let them get involved in the community besides posing for carefully arrainged photo ops and then talking to developers behind everyone's back.

I don't pay taxes for them to build their careers in Albany or City Hall while I am wasting my time getting dicked around by city agencies doing their job.

Anonymous said...

So unfortunately a nice individual - a building superintendent no less dies in an illegal cellar. The DOB did nothing despite their knowledge of an outstanding citation from years ago - what's next? Same as usual, I will be commenting once again how shameful it is for the city to ignore these violations in Queens and that good folks need not die or at least not do so in vain.

Anonymous said...

The DOB did nothing despite their knowledge of an outstanding citation from years ago - what's next?

How about making the electeds responsible for something besides street names and selling the community out to developers?

Anonymous said...

People also look the other way because sometimes the choice is illegal, dangerous situation or the street.

The brother of a friend expired when his illegal attic apartment reached deadly temperatures during a hot summer.

Should anyone live like this? No. But people do all the time.