New NYC Order Strengthens Fire Safety Enforcement and Outreach – NBC New York

what you should know

• The executive order seeks to increase coordination between the New York City Fire Department and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to identify buildings with high numbers of fire safety violations for enhanced FDNY inspection.
• The FDNY and HPD will launch an outreach campaign to educate New Yorkers about fire safety.
• The City will also work with the City Council to enact additional fire safety legislation, including sensible sprinkler retrofit legislation and legislation that increases fines for homeowners who falsely report that they improved a self-closing gate violation.

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed Executive Order 12 on Sunday to strengthen security enforcement firefighting and scope after tragic apartment fire Twin Parksin the Bronx, where 17 people died last January.

The executive order will increase coordination between inspectors from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), to identify safety violations sooner and increase fire safety compliance.

The FDNY and HPD will also launch a broad campaign to educate New Yorkers about fire safety.

The City will also work with the City Council to enact additional fire safety legislation, including sensible sprinkler retrofit legislation and legislation that increases fines for homeowners who falsely report that they improved a self-closing gate violation.

The executive order will increase coordination and information sharing among agencies to better enforce existing fire safety laws. The agencies will also enhance outreach efforts to educate New Yorkers about fire prevention and fire emergency response. Measures include:

• In addition to looking for housing code violations, HPD inspectors will now look for compliance with the FDNY requirement that the Fire Safety Notice be posted on the apartment front door. HPD will communicate information about the lack of this signage to the FDNY and the building owner.
• HPD will provide the FDNY with access to all issued fire safety violations beginning January 1, 2021. The FDNY will use this information to conduct more frequent inspections of buildings with a high number of violations.
• FDNY inspectors will conduct enhanced inspections for fire sign and post violations.
• FDNY and HPD will conduct an extensive fire safety education outreach campaign, including education related to smoke detectors, self-closing doors, and stove knob covers. The outreach to residents will include information on what to do in the event of a fire, and building owners will be reminded of their legal obligations related to fire safety.
• The FDNY will work with the Department of Education to conduct outreach activities in schools, including educating teachers, staff, and students on proper fire safety and evacuation procedures.

“We must work to equip every New Yorker and every building in this city with the tools to prevent an unspeakable tragedy like the one we saw two months ago,” said Mayor Adams. “As we continue to provide critical support to families affected by the fire, we are working closely with Borough President Gibson, Councilman Feliz and our partners across government and beyond to fix this issue. Today’s actions are an essential step towards the goal of preventing this type of tragedy from happening again.”

Expert explains how a fire starts

In the Bronx fire, 17 people died, including eight children, and dozens were injured. East it was described by the authorities of the City of New York as one of the worst in more than 30 years. According to the Fire Commissioner of the City of New York (FDNY), Dan Nigro, the cause of the accident was a failure in an electric heater.

Nigro added that the fire originated in a duplex apartment on the second and third floors of the building, but never spread beyond the unit and the hallway closest to the apartment. Smoke from the duplex fire was able to leak through an open door and spread throughout the 19-story structure, he explained.

“Unfortunately, the door to that apartment when the residents left was left open, it didn’t close. The smoke spread throughout the building, so there was a tremendous loss of life,” Nigro told a news conference.

Substances as common as baking soda can save lives.

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