Department of Buildings warns public not to fall from buildings on Independence Day

 

DOB ADVISES NEW YORKERS NOT TO BECOME A “JULY 5TH STORY”

Don’t risk life and limb just to get a better view of the fireworks display! Stay safe this July 4th holiday to avoid becoming a tragic headline the next day

 

New York, NY –The Department of Buildings today is sounding the alarm to all property owners and residents to be especially mindful of existing safety regulations for the proper use of rooftops, terraces, balconies, and fire escapes in New York City this Independence Day. Ignoring these safety regulations to get a better view of holiday fireworks displays can lead to a deadly accidental fall, providing yet another tragic story for the papers and the six o’clock news the next day. Regulations around these elevated structures apply all year long, but are particularly relevant this month as New Yorkers look for vantage points to view the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display, which is scheduled for this Tuesday evening. Unlawful gatherings on fire escapes and rooftops that are not specifically designed for regular occupancy have tragically led to multiple fatal falls in New York City in recent years.

 

“This Fourth of July holiday we are once again strongly urging patriotism-loving New Yorkers and firework enthusiasts alike to prioritize safety,” said Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo. “It simply isn’t safe to watch fireworks from an unsecured building roof or a fire escape, where one false step can have life-altering consequences. For those planning to enjoy the rockets’ red glare tomorrow, our message is to select an appropriate place to watch the show in order to avoid becoming a July 5th story.”

 

Property owners and tenants should closely follow the following safety rules to avoid becoming a headline in the news on July 5th:

 

·         Do not access building rooftops to watch the fireworks, unless the rooftop has an approved deck or other approved space for gatherings, equipped with code-compliant guardrails, multiple emergency exits, signage indicating the maximum legal occupancy, and other required safety features.

·         Do not gather to watch the fireworks on fire escapes, which are not designed nor meant to be used as a balcony. For the safety of everyone in the building, fire escapes must be kept free of obstructions at all times.

·         Do not overcrowd terraces, balconies, or legal rooftop spaces. Overcrowding these spaces can pose a serious hazard to occupants.

·         Do not prop open emergency doors or disable door alarms leading to rooftop areas of a building that are not meant to be legally occupied. Unsecured rooftop spaces can pose a serious danger to building occupants, especially children.

·         Do not lean out of a window, over an edge, a parapet wall or over a railing for a better view of the fireworks display.

·         Avoid approaching any building edge that is not protected by a wall or railing.

 

Property owners are legally obligated to maintain their properties in a safe condition. New Yorkers are encouraged to call 311 to report unsafe building conditions to the Department, and call 911 to report emergencies.

Happy New Year from College Point

reddit/nyc

And the award for outstanding pyrotechnics goes to...

From NBC:

A neighbor’s security camera shows a group of people standing in a driveway on East 51 Street, setting off fireworks when a roman candle gets fired directly into a bedroom window. Those outside didn’t seem to notice, and continued to light more off for more than five minutes while flames grew inside the house, the fire department said.

The fire grew quickly, soon swallowing the whole back of the house and a car in the driveway. After the group finally saw the smoke and flames, one man could be seen on security footage trying fruitlessly to put out some of the flames using a garden hose.

Fire marshals arrested Damien Bend and charged the 36-year-old with arson after allegedly starting the inferno when he accidentally shot the illegal fireworks into his own home. The FDNY said that Bend only discovered the fire after going inside to get more fireworks to shoot off.

New York City's New Bad Days are here as more shootings and illegal fireworks are reported

Impunity City

 During the last two months of the lockdown of the five boroughs and with a sizeable amount of cops stricken by COVID-19, home and commercial property burglaries and vehicle theft shot up in massive numbers in May as murders and robberies show higher incremental ticks. Crime in the subway made significant gains even though service is cut and commuting went down nearly 90%.  

Shootings went up by a lot (especially in Brooklyn) which shouldn’t be surprising considering you can be more than six feet to hit your target. Drag racing also went up in the last 3 months as the city was mostly barren from mass isolation.
 
As May began Governor Cuomo gave the order to kick the homeless off the trains including banning every other commuter from the subway at 1 am until the clock struck 5 so the trains can get thoroughly cleaned..Which had no effect with the homeless who prefer to sleep during the morning and noon hours as the lower paid contractors deftly cleaned around them. 

 And that's only a sample of NYC's Spring of chaos and disorder...

NY Post

 Bullets are whizzing around New York this month at a rate not seen in nearly a quarter-century, according to the NYPD — and police sources warned that the recent rate of gunplay may be the new normal.
Through the first three weeks of June, which came to a close Sunday, city streets echoed with 125 shooting incidents, Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri told The Post on Monday.
“We have to go back to June of 1996 to get a worse start for June,” said LiPetri. “That is a telling stat.”
Twenty-four years ago, Rudy Giuliani was mayor and, while the city had made strides in tamping down crime, Gotham still saw 2,938 people shot and 984 killed.
Although overall crime citywide remains down 2.5 percent for the year, shootings, already trending up this year, exploded in June.
From Monday, June 15, through Sunday, there were 53 shooting incidents across the city, the highest mark for a single week since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office.
The last time the city recorded that many shootings in a week was around July 4, 2012, according to police sources.
But to find a nonholiday week — which tends to be quieter — with that many shootings, the department had to look all the way back to 2005, according to LiPetri.
“This weekend we also saw real challenges out in our streets in terms of gun violence,” said de Blasio in a press briefing, remarking on the blood-soaked stretch that included 24 people shot citywide Saturday.
“We are not going to allow gun violence to continue to grow in this city,” vowed Hizzoner.


Gothamist

 As thundering firework displays continue to shoot through New York City's skies, they're trailed by a boom in complaints about the illegal use of pyrotechnics. From Washington Heights to Ditmas Park, weary residents say they've been pushed to the brink by screeching explosions that begin before sundown and last well into the morning.

According to city data, 849 complaints about fireworks were logged with the city's 311 hotline in the last two weeks alone. That's a nearly 4,000 percent increase from the same period in 2019, which saw just 21 recorded complaints. In the first two weeks of June during the previous five years, there were less than 50 complaints related to fireworks in total.

As with other 311 data, it's not clear that the figures reflect an actual spike in activity. In many cases, the growth of nuisance calls is a better barometer of gentrification than any specific change in behavior. But while illicit fireworks have long served as the sonic backdrop to summer nights in NYC, some residents say the intensity and frequency has been noticeably greater in 2020, with many of the late-night displays appearing strangely professional.

"There’s something louder, longer, and crazier about it that’s weird," said Phoebe Streblow, a Flatbush resident. "Just the sheer cost alone of these productions is suspect. They're about the size of fireworks at a minor league ballpark."

NYPD, Homeland Security won't let residents watch fireworks from their own buildings

From NBC:

Residents of one apartment building in Queens say they are being barred from everything and say they are fed up. Michael George reports.

Fireworks coming back to East River

From LIC Talk:

The Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks extravaganza is finally returning to Long Island City this summer after a seven year hiatus. Four barges will be placed on the East River between 23rd and 37th Streets, so there will be no better viewing location than our own waterfront parks, balconies, terraces, and rooftops. For LIC, this will be where Mardi Gras meets New Years Eve in Times Square and the Superbowl of Christmases.

Firecracker damages memorial

From the Queens Chronicle:

For many in Howard Beach, the namesake of Charles Park is a mystery. But for those who know who Frank Charles was, his is a story every neighborhood resident should know.

That’s why several years ago, the American Legion Post #1404, based in Broad Channel but including a number of Howard Beach residents as members, sought to construct a memorial sign telling the story of Charles, the first resident of Howard Beach to die in action at war.

In May, five years, one hurricane and over $5,000 later, they unveiled a sign on the east side of the park facing Hawtree Creek where Charles lived, only to find last weekend that it had been damaged.

“It’s terrible,” said Ed Murray, past commander of American Legion Post #1404. “There’s no respect.”

A hole blew open in the Plexiglas panel protecting the sign and a large dent mars the back of the sign.

“I think it was a firecracker, an M-80 probably,” said Ray York, another past commander of the troop. “Some kids, probably on the Fourth of July. They must have taped it on the glass and lit it.”

Initially, some residents, including Dorothy McCloskey, president of Friends of Charles Park, thought it was a bullet, but no fragments were found, nor did it penetrate through the steel skin.

“If it was a bullet, it would have gone right through,” York said.

Murray pointed to red powder on the bottom of the sign inside the glass as a sign that a firecracker was the likely culprit.

The Atlas Park fireworks show will go on

From the Daily News:

Civic leaders want to douse the annual Independence Day fireworks display on July 5 at the Atlas Park shopping center because they fear a spark could fly into a nearby chemical warehouse, triggering a disastrous explosion.

Robert Holden, from the Juniper Park Civic Association, and Kathy Masi of the Glendale Civic Association are asking the city to pull the permit for the popular pyrotechnics show, even though the owner of the Independent Chemical Corp. insisted there is no danger from a professional display.

James Cervino, a marine biologist who lives College Point, said the plastic drums are “vulnerable to superstorms, flooding and fire, especially if there is a fireworks show occurring in the area.”

“All it takes is one shell going awry,” he said.

Company president Jonathan Spielman said he is concerned about vandals breaking into his facility and kids playing with fireworks in the surrounding streets — but not the Atlas Park show.

Apparently the compromise is to allow the show but have HazMat on standby at the site.

Queens screwed out of fireworks again this year

From the Times Ledger:

When the mayor announced in April that the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks were moving back to the East River this year, there was excitement among business owners and elected officials that there would be an economic windfall along the Queens waterfront.
Anthony La Vigna

But a review of the plans for the nation’s largest pyrotechnic display show that the closest barge will be anchored between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges way too the south.

Amy Spilatnick, a spokeswoman from the Mayor’s office, said, “We anticipate that the 4th of July fireworks display will be visible in part from a variety of locations in Queens, including but not limited to a good portion of the East River waterfront. The optimal viewing areas are listed on the Macy’s website.”

Macy’s website lists several viewing spots in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but there are no locations listed in Queens.

Fireworks returning to East River

From CBS New York:

The Macy’s 4th of July fireworks show will return to the East River this year.

The annual display will be set off from the Brooklyn Bridge and barges on the East River, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.

As public advocate, de Blasio would join other Brooklyn leaders each year asking Macy’s and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg to bring the fireworks back to the East River.
Now that he’s in charge, it’s happening.

Fireworks may come back to East River

From the Daily News:

Macy's is considering a return of its famed Fourth of July fireworks to the East River — a move that would thrill Brooklyn and Queens residents who lost their view of the display for four straight years, the Daily News has learned.

Bending to outer-borough pressure, Macy’s execs and top people in its fireworks operations have agreed to meet soon with pols to discuss moving the dazzling show off the Hudson River for the first time since 2009.

“Macy’s has expressed willingness to move to the East River,” said a source involved with the talks.

“Macy’s has been receptive to sitting down and discussing solutions,” the source said. “We’re optimistic that soon there will be good news.”

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn Heights) have been in talks by phone for months with Macy’s about a possible venue change for the iconic Independence Day celebration.

The sit-down will be local elected officials’ first face-to-face discussion about the fireworks with Macy’s execs.

“The fireworks,” said de Blasio, “belong” in the East River. “Outer-borough New Yorkers deserve to be part of the city’s Fourth of July celebration too.”

Pols lobby to get fireworks returned to East River

From the Huffington Post:

After three straight years depriving nearly all of the outer-boroughs and Manhattan's East Side of the annual Fourth of July fireworks, Macy's has once again dissed many New Yorkers in 2012 by deciding to host their festivities on the Hudson River.

But instead of simply sulking about missing all the pyrotechnic fun, several New York politicians including State Senator Daniel Squadron and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio are taking action with an online petition in hopes to convince Macy's honchos to do the people justice.

Terrorism vs. suicide vs. insanity in Ozone Park explosion

From DNA Info:

A man apparently making low-grade pipe bombs with powder from fireworks blew himself up inside his Queens home Monday morning, sources said.

Theodore Ellinghaus, 50, ignited the blast on 111th Avenue in Ozone Park just before 9:30 a.m. and the explosion blew him apart, a source said. He was dead by the time paramedics arrived.

Investigators are looking into whether he was building bombs as part of a dispute with a former employer, a construction company. A police source described Ellinghaus as an "emotionally disturbed person."

From the NY Post:

A Queens man was killed after a powerful firecracker exploded in his home this morning, and law-enforcement sources said cops are looking into whether he may have committed suicide with it.

The 50-year-old man was clutching the M80 near his waist in the hallway of his Ozone Park home when it went off at 9:28 a.m., police said.

The explosion ripped off two fingers from his hand and tore a hole through his stomach, leaving his organs exposed, sources said.

Horrified relatives, who were at the 111th Avenue house at the time of the incident, made the grisly discovery.

Police are investigating whether the victim, who recently told neighbors he was suffering from depression, had decided to kill himself with the firecracker.

LIC wants fireworks back

From the Daily News:

Queens didn't just lose a great view of the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks display when the department store moved the annual show from the East River.

The borough's booming businesses also took a hit.

For more than a decade, local merchants in the neighborhood got a boost from the crowds that flooded its streets to catch a glimpse of the fireworks.

Macy's officials said the fireworks has changed locations over the years to accommodate different themes and maximize public viewing.

"This year's show design along the Hudson River celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty would not be possible on another waterway," said Macy's spokesman Orlando Veras.

Fireworks destroy Brooklyn warehouse

Photo from EveryPlace on Flickr via Brooklyn 11211

From NY Shitty:

Saw the plume erupt just as the regular fire works were lighting up on the Hudson from my friend’s roof and started to count off the blocks north of Metropolitan. Apparently some hipster douchebags were setting off rocket fireworks on Wythe and N.9th and one went into the sawdust hopper of Rosenwach Water Tank. Way to go douchebags!! Another Williamsburg institution ruined!!

Cops and Fire Dept are investigating, with probable arrest and incarceration coming soon since it sounds like alot of people know who did it and knowing the wburg gossip train, the city should know within a few more hours once loose lips sink somebody’s yacht. And probably somebody is gonna get their ass beat too, because those guys are working stiffs, and now probably a good dozen of them are out of a job. Thanks a lot douchebags!!

Let's not forget that the City closed a firehouse in Williamsburg in 2003 and then drastically upzoned the area.

Photo from Brownstoner

Real American Stories - Fireworks by Grucci

Fireworks crackdown begins

From the Queens Gazette:

Fourth of July revelers take note: if you are caught by police purchasing, displaying, storing or lighting illegal fireworks, starting this weekend you will be arrested and put through the system - without exception.

Police officials this week are alerting area residents that they will lose their freedom if they purchase illegal explosives or set off illegal fireworks displays on local streets.

Police sources told the Gazette that dozens of plainclothes police officers will patrol on foot, on bicycle and in unmarked vehicles to seek out and nab violators who insist on setting off illegal explosive devices on and around the July 4th holiday weekend.

NYPD staking out PA fireworks stores

From the Queens Courier:

Police have taken to staking-out fireworks stores in Pennsylvania, looking for cars with New York plates, in response to a rise in fireworks incidents in recent years.

“We make a few arrests a week, and it goes up as Fourth of July approaches,” one officer commented. “They have to understand we mean business.”

Under their state law, it is illegal for a Pennsylvania resident to even enter a fireworks store without a permit. However, out-of-state residents “whose status is verified” can purchase fireworks, but they must be transported out of the state.

This sounds like an amazing waste of NYPD manpower.