On January 9, a fatal fire in the Twins Park complex in the Bronx left 17 dead, 8 of them children, and 66 wounded. Exactly five months later, New York City enacted five fire safety laws, ramping up prevention and education efforts in the wake of the worst fire safety tragedy in 30 years.
Now the inspection times for the operation of self-closing doors in buildings will be shorter. But also heThe fines will be much higher for the owners that these flaws are not corrected in a timely manner.
In addition, the new laws aim to root out one of the elements with the greatest risk of generating fires and domestic explosions during cold days, since the sale in the Big Apple of certain electric heaters is prohibited that do not meet safety standards.
In this regard, the New York City Department of Consumers and Workers (DCWP) will ensure that space heaters sold in New York City are properly labeled, certified, have a thermostat and automatically shut off.
“The tragic Twin Parks fire was a call to action. These laws strengthen fire safety for New Yorkers. It is now abundantly clear that self-closing doors are critical to protecting lives,” he said. Adolph Carrion Jr., New York City Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
Also the councillor, Pierina Sánchez, president of Committee on Housing and one of the promoters of the new regulatory package, also valued the educational scope that the City considers by expanding the safety messages in ten languages.
“These first laws addressing the Twin Parks fire is just a start, to be clear. We will continue to improve fire safety by putting more responsibilities to the owners, modernizing our construction codes”, explained the local legislator.
a tragic lesson
The painful tragedy in the Bronx that inspired these new laws, according to official expertise, was associated with a faulty door that did not close due to missing safety springs. It was the main factor that helped the smoke to spread to much of the building.
The fire originated in a duplex apartment on the second and third floors of the 19-story Twin Parks North West building, located at 333 East 181st Street in the Tremont neighborhood, due to problems with an electric heater. from that apartment a dense cloud of smoke spread for almost the entire residential tower.
The people who died were found in stairwell areas on various floors of the building.
The investigations concluded that the thick smoke was able to travel to all floorsleaving the victims unconscious, precisely due to failures in the springs.
For her part, the acting commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), Laura Kavanagh put on the table how important it means that this agency now has more legal resources to educate New Yorkers about fire prevention.
“These bills, and the Mayor’s Executive Order increasing coordination between our department and HPD, will strengthen the FDNY’s ability to reach our city’s most needy residents with timely education messages that will save lives”limited the head of the FDNY.
Mayor Eric Adams had signed an executive order in March to immediately improve coordination and outreach safety against fire accidents.
“Today, I am proud to have worked with the City Council to create long-term solutions that strengthen law enforcement and education and prevent these tragedies,” he concluded.
In Detail: The Five New Fire Laws in NYC
- Ley 104: The definition of a self-closing door is specified which must be equipped with a device that allows the door, when opened and released, to close automatically.
- Ley 105: Shortens the time frame for correcting self-closing door violations from 21 days to 14 days. It is required that the Department of Buildings (DOB) re-inspect a self-closing door violation no later than 20 days after the expiration of the 14-day correction period. And it increases construction penalties for homeowners who fail to remedy those violations. Set a range of $250-$500 civil penalty for the violation of the self-closing door requirement and a fine of $250/day from the date established for the correction of the violation.
- Ley 106: The sale of electric heaters that do not have automatic shut-off capabilities is prohibited. And it is required that these artifacts sold in New York City are labeled by a recognized testing laboratory at the national level.
- Ley 131: Expand education on fire safety in 10 languages to require the FDNY to provide educational materials and conduct outreach activities related to the safe use of electric heaters in residences.
- Ley 155: Prohibits DOB from charging filing fees for a permit to repair fire-damaged conditions of one-, two-, or three-family homes. If construction defects are discovered at such fire-damaged locations, this fee waiver would extend to other dwellings within the same owner or cooperative association to correct the same construction defect.
Fire in the Big Apple
- 87 personas died in the deadliest fire in New York City in 1990, in an arson attack at the ‘Happy Land’ social club, also in the Bronx
- 13 people also died in Salsa County in 2017 in an apartment building flame incident that killed 13 people, also started by a space heater, which killed nine children and one adult.
- 16% increased fires in the Big Apple in 2021 compared to 2020.
- 73 deaths from fire accidents compared to 63 in 2020, according to FDNY data.
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