Playground equipment gets burning hot in summer

Flag burners run away from flag protectors

Daily News photo

From the NY Post:

Nothing says “rebel” quite like being saved from a pummeling by the men and women you’re protesting against.

The anti-cop group “Disarm NYPD” staged a pre-Fourth of July flag-burning Wednesday night in Fort Greene Park — but the protesters’ plans went up in smoke when a group of furious bikers moved in to teach them a lesson.

The activists had publicized the event as a response to “systemic racism” in NYPD policies. They originally intended to burn a Confederate flag to (somehow) make that point, then changed their minds, opting instead to light up Old Glory. “We maintain, unwaveringly, that both the Confederate flag and the American flag are symbols of oppression,” the group announced.

But when the handful of protesters arrived at the park, they were met by dozens of counter-protesters equipped with water guns.

Then members of the Hallowed Sons Motorcycle Club lit into the flag-burners — at which point New York’s Finest came to the rescue, sheltering the protesters and escorting them safely out of the park.

Post-apocalyptic scene beneath the J train

Hi QC,

Talk about an eyesore (and maybe a lung sore)!

Have you seen what is left of a food factory distributor that burned about 2 years ago.

The burned out hulk remains untouched it seems since the fire. If you are on the Crescent Street platform of the J train you are right above it.

Anybody know what is planned for this? Why does the community have to see this and possibly be exposed to who knows what when the wind blows? When it rains, what toxins are leached and where?

Thanks for your coverage of local news.

Joe L

Joe, I don't know what the answer is. Usually, the FDNY/DOB orders the building to be demolished. I'm not sure why this one was left in this condition for so long. - QC

Child dies in New Year's fire

From the NY Post:

A raging home fire killed a seven-year-old boy in Queens on Wednesday morning, police sources said.

The blaze began in a fireplace at the East Elmhurst home, on 90th Street near 31st Avenue streets, then grew out of control at around 9 a.m., fire department officials said.

The boy’s 13-year-old brother suffered second degree burns and was rushed to Cornell Hospital, according to cops.

Bars on the windows of the home may have caused the boys to be trapped inside, police sources said.

I suppose "2 FLR IS BEING RENTED AS SRO'S, ALSO WALLS ERECTED ON THE 1FLR, NO PERMITS" was also a factor.

City burning trees felled by Sandy

From CBS:

Getting rid of the debris was a major mission a month after Superstorm Sandy, and in Brooklyn on Wednesday, some of the debris was going up in smoke.

As CBS 2’s John Slattery reported, the wrath of Sandy brought down 15,000 trees in the city alone.

The trees have been chipped into 100,000 cubic yards at Floyd Bennett Field in southeast Brooklyn.

City and state environmental officials and the Army Corps of Engineers said the wood will be used for biofuel, for mulch and for landfill cover. But up to 500 cubic yards were being burned in a special incinerator.

City environmental officials said it is a clean way of burning, but CBS 2 was not allowed to look at it up close.

The contraption, the size of a shipping container, is called an Air Curtain Burner — a ceramic-lined firebox that burns debris as a diesel-powered pump shoots air over the box, creating a trap to keep fire and smoke from getting into the open air.

“The air current really suppresses smoke and particles that come from the fire,” and less particulate gets out, said city Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland.

But not all of the particulate is prevented from escaping, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was monitoring the air at eight spots around Floyd Bennett Field.

The closest residents to the field are those who live in the Rockaways, Marine Park and Mill Basin.

Back to the drawing board for park domes

MYFOXNY.COM - An experiment with shiny steel climbing domes in a Brooklyn park has ended after a baby girl severely burned herself on one of them.

The shiny structures have caused problems since the playground at Brooklyn Bridge Park opened in the spring.

The metal domes baked in the sun in the park designed for young children. Parents started complaining almost immediately.

The first solution was to put up signs warning parents that the structures can be hot. The signs also said that they expected the trees canopy to eventually provide shade for the domes.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation's next idea was to put tarps over the domes but that was problematic since they had to be moved all day.

The final straw was on Wednesday when a baby girl touched a dome and reportedly left her hands blistered. Another child was also burned but not as badly.

On Friday, white cloths covered the domes and barricades were set up around all of them.