A Bronx building that became a towering inferno in January, leaving 17 dead, was scheduled to be examined by an FDNY fire inspector several months beforehand — but it didn’t happen because the inspector was reassigned to conduct COVID restaurant inspections.
The troubling account came from Oren Barzilay, president of the union that represents paramedics and fire inspectors who testified Wednesday at a hearing held by the City Council’s Fire and Emergency Management Committee.
“That building was scheduled to be inspected, but because they were sent to a task force, that building was not inspected,” he testified.
“It’s terrible,” he told the Daily News after his testimony. “I’m not blaming Eric Adams. I’m blaming the previous administration for not thinking it through.”
The Jan. 9 blaze at Twin Parks North West in the Bronx killed 17 people and left dozens more injured. The fire was caused by a faulty space heater that burst into flames and made worse by malfunctioning doors that were designed to close on their own. Because the doors failed to shut, the toxic smoke spread quickly through the 19-story building.
The blaze was the deadliest in the city since the Happy Land night club fire killed 87 people in 1990.
Barzilay told the Daily News an inspector was assigned to Twin Parks about a year before the fire took place to examine the building’s stand pipe system, which would supply it with water in the event of a fire. Barzilay noted that while inspectors wouldn’t have focused on inspecting doors, any problems they saw would have been flagged and addressed.
“If they had noticed anything else, they would have addressed the issue,” he said.
Barzilay also noted a Brooklyn building that was the site of an explosion recently was also slated to be inspected before the incident, but was not because inspectors were diverted to enforce vaccine mandates at city restaurants. Mayor Adams rolled back those requirements, known as the Key2NYC, on Monday.
5 comments:
If the buildings were to be inspected for months, as mich as I loved to blame Bill da Blah blah, this sounds more like an excuse for poor time management and management oversight.
I have to show up to my job, check in with my manager and complete my assignments to the best of my ability. But my assignments that need more time are then prioritized to be completed in weeks, not allowed to fall months behind schedule. And my job does not save lives or protect property.
So, blame da Blah Blah, but I think others are at fault for the backlog of inspections before hiding behind reassignment during a global pandemic.
Another great example of American anarcho-tyranny. Billy DeBlaz made abso-fucking-lootly sure that nobody could sneak into a restaurant without a (useless) vax jab. But building inspections? Whatever.
See, the second part is the anarcho -- let it all go to hell. The first part is the tyranny -- literally throwing people in jail for violations of the current political narrative. This is the nation today. Within five years or less you'll be thrown in jail for posting anti-Regime or 'racist' comments on Twitter. They already do this in Europe.
But the Blaz is a champion for the black community and knows what is best for them!
The Bronx is burning. That sounds familiar
Eric is so bad he makes DeBozio look good.
But I feel sorry for Jimmy Carter. He worked hard for "worst president ever", and Biden dethroned him in just a few months.
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