Queens is burning and more unaffordable

  

QNS

A 72-year-old man was killed after a fire engulfed his illegal basement apartment in South Richmond Hill on Thursday afternoon.

The FDNY received a call just after 5 p.m. of a house fire at 94-14 132nd St. Firefighters confirmed the blaze broke out in the basement. The FDNY dispatched 12 units and 60 firefighters and EMS personnel to the scene. Paramedics rescued the 72-year-old victim, and EMS rushed him to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition. He succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead a short while later.

Two other residents were injured, and one firefighter suffered a minor injury. They were treated at the scene. The fire was brought under control at 5:44 p.m. 

QNS

New York City has launched a housing lottery for 182 units in The Monarch, a 24-story mixed-use development at 92-29 Guy R Brewer Blvd. in Jamaica that opened last July.

The building has 605 total residences, with 30 available in the housing lottery for those earning 80% of the area median income and another 152 for those earning 130% of the area median income.

Of the 30 units set aside for those earning 80% of the area median income, 25 are one-bedroom, with a monthly rent of $1,596. Up to three people can reside in each unit, as long as their combined annual income ranges from $58,046.-$111,840. The other five units are two-bedroom, with a monthly rent of $1,904. These units are meant for up to five people, who earn $69,669-$134,160 annually.

For the 152 units set aside for those earning 130% of the area median income, 125 of them are one-bedroom units, which cost $3,140 a month. They are meant for up to three residents, who combine to bring in $107,658-$181,740. The 27 remaining units are two-bedroom, with a monthly rent of $3,753. Up to five people can live in these units, as long as they combine to earn $128,675-$218,010 annually.

Amenities for residents of The Monarch include washers, dryers and dishwashers in the units, high-end kitchen appliances, countertops and finishes, air-conditioning, energy-efficient appliances, smart controls for heating and cooling, charging outlets with USB ports, hardwood floors, cable or satellite TV and high-speed internet.

QNS

The average rental price for housing units across Queens went up 4.07% year-over-year in August 2024, according to a report by the real estate firm M.N.S. Real Estate.

Queens had its overall rental price jump from $2,812 in August 2023 to $2,926 in August 2024. Studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units each experienced price hikes over this period of time. While the year-over-year changes were not as extreme as last month, the trends were similar.

Studios again had the largest percentage increase, going up 5.92%, from $2,240 in 2023 to $2,372 in 2024. Rego Park retained its title of having the most significant increase in studio rent year-over-year among the 11 Queens neighborhoods included in the study. The cost there rose from $2,138 last year to $2,714 this year.

One-bedroom units had a 3.73% rise in rent, from $2,737 in August 2023 to $2,839 in August 2024. Once again, Rego Park had the biggest boost among the Queens neighborhoods, with the rent of one-bedroom units there going up from $2,646 last year to $2,889 this year

Two-bedroom units again had the largest increase in price, going up 4.41%, from $3,415 in August 2023 to $3,566 in August 2024. Sunnyside had the biggest change, up from $2,920 last year to $3,316 this year.

The most expensive units continue to be found in Long Island City. The average rent in August there was $3,464 for studios, $4,223 for one-bedroom units and $5,975 for two-bedroom units.

Queens is Burning: Seven homes destroyed from a massive fire in Queens Village

 

NY Post

A massive fire ripped through Queens Saturday afternoon, injuring 14 people — including 11 firefighters — and damaging multiple buildings, leaving dozens of residents displaced, officials said. 

The blaze began just after 4 p.m., at a two-story residence at 88-21 Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens Village, before quickly soaring to five alarms and spreading to seven buildings, according to FDNY officials.  

Over 200 firefighters, EMTs and paramedics responded to the fire, which was brought under control in about two hours, officials said. 

 This was a very fierce fire, and it spread to seven buildings and into the rear and garage area,” FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer said. 

The majority suffered heat-related injuries and were taken to local area hospitals to be treated. 

Dozens of people were estimated to have been displaced, said Frederic Klein, a spokesman with the Red Cross, which was on the scene aiding victims.

The organization said it had registered seven households — consisting of 22 adults and 10 children — for emergency assistance, including temporary lodging and financial assistance.

 In an alley behind Francis Lewis Boulevard where residents parked their cars, at least three vehicles had been charred to a crisp.

 

Tenants displaced by apartment building fire gets temporary housing from the landlord they are suing

 

 Queens Post

A breakthrough was reached just days after tenants of a Sunnyside apartment complex filed a lawsuit against their building’s landlord stemming from their displacement following a 5-alarm fire in December.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and A&E Real Estate, the landlord, announced a plan Monday to provide 22 tenants of 43-09 47th Ave. who were forced out of their apartments on Dec. 20 due to fire damage with an additional round of six-month temporary housing agreements.

After the fire, which was determined to have been caused by a contractor using an unregulated blowtorch, A&E offered the tenants the option of signing a temporary relocation license agreement for “up to six months if needed,” allowing them to rent apartments at other A&E properties at the same monthly rate they had paid at their Sunnyside building. Those original agreements were set to expire on Tuesday, July 2.

“Through no fault of their own, our neighbors tragically lost their homes and their possessions in the heart of the holiday season,” Richards said. “I’m thankful to A&E Real Estate for its partnership and for its support of these families by offering additional temporary lease agreements. Going forward my office will work tirelessly with our partners in city government to ensure those displaced by the fire have continuous access to stable and affordable housing.”

A spokesperson for A&E Real Estate said the agreement was with 22 households that are still in A&E temporary housing as of Monday.

“Borough President Richards picked up the phone and asked how we could work together to do more for residents. Working through the weekend, we found a path forward that will enable us to offer temporary housing for residents affected by the fire for up to six months more,” the spokesperson said. “While we know this has been challenging, we have worked hard at every step to go above and beyond to give residents some security and breathing room to plan for the future.”

The additional temporary lease agreements will run through Jan. 15, 2025, giving impacted families another six months to secure more permanent housing.

“Ultimately, it’s the insurance settlement that will compensate all parties for their losses in the fire,” the A&E spokesperson said. “We appreciate Borough President Richards’ partnership in finding an approach that we can sustain for several months more.”

The lawsuit filed on behalf of 200 tenants seeks $10 million in damages for gross negligence in failing to properly supervise their contractors and/or employees. Brett Gallaway, the tenants’ attorney from the law firm of McLaughlin and Stern, emphasized the severity of the situation.

“The reckless actions of A&E have caused irreparable harm to these families,” Gallaway said. “This lawsuit seeks to hold them accountable for the devastation they have caused and their continued failure to provide adequate support and compensation to the displaced tenants.”

 Considering the stupidity of the developer's contractor, A & E should just let those tenants have those apartments they are only temporarily staying in. Wonder what they look like and I wonder if they are building new "affordable housing" in this town.

 

 

Queens is burning by the open streets

 

Photo by Shebbie

 Eyewitness News

Several people, including a mom and her baby, were rescued by firefighters after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Queens Friday.

FDNY officials say the fire broke out just after 7 p.m. on the second floor of a four-story apartment building located at 34-09 83rd Street in Jackson Heights.

They say the fire originated in the kitchen area. When firefighters arrived, they encountered the fire coming from an open door leading to the public hallway.

As first responders began searching the building, they found several people trying to escape from the flames.

One of the tenants was located on the fire escape, while another tenant, a woman with a baby, was located on the roof of the building.

Firefighters rescued those tenants and brought them to EMS.

Officials say three civilians suffered minor injuries. It's not clear if those are the same three people rescued by first responders.

No firefighters were injured.

The fire was placed under control just after 8 p.m.

FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Jardin said an e-bike or lithium-ion battery scooter was discovered near the kitchen, but it's not clear if that was what sparked the fire.

 

Queens is burning again: Lithium ion battery inferno guts electronics store selling unregistered motorcycles and a house blaze kills a woman and her son who tried to save her

A two-alarm fire that broke out in a commercial building in South Richmond Hill on Saturday night was caused by an exploding lithium-ion battery that saw nearly two dozen e-bikes erupt in flames, according to the FDNY. Fire marshals based their determination on a digital video recording that showed smoke coming from a battery and within 20 seconds it exploded sending a wall of flame that consumed the shop.

The blaze took place inside King Electronic Hub at 119-07 Liberty Ave. just after 9:45 p.m. and firefighters were met by heavy smoke spewing from behind roll-down security gates. The two-story building included apartments above.

 NY Post

An 86-year-old woman was killed in a Queens fire along with her son, who fearlessly rushed back inside the burning home in a desperate attempt to save his mother, according to witnesses and the FDNY.

The two-alarm blaze broke out in the basement of a house on 164th Street between 108th and 109th avenues in Jamaica around 6 p.m., catching the attention of passerby Gersham McGowan, who stopped and called 911.

But before placing the emergency call, McGowan said he spoke to the 61-year-old man outside the house, who told him he had to go back inside to rescue his elderly mom.

“He never came out, his mom never came out either and later on I saw they took two bodies from the house,” McGowan said.

 

Stupid contractor left hundreds of tenants homeless from building fire

Queens Chronicle

The five-alarm fire at a Sunnyside apartment building last Wednesday, Dec. 20, was determined to have been caused by the use of an illegal torch, the FDNY said last Thursday.

Hundreds of people were displaced by the blaze, according to the office of Borough President Donovan Richards; the American Red Cross in Great New York is assisting 242 people across 101 affected households. Thirty-nine of those 101 were being provided with housing through Wednesday, Dec. 27. Though a Richards spokesperson said members of some households in the building, which has 107 units, per Department of Buildings records, have sought shelter elsewhere with friends and family, it is not clear how many more were displaced; a spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Management said the agency only counts apartments, not people. The Red Cross is encouraging any remaining residents to register with the group.

Among those impacted by the blaze was Melissa Orlando, who has lived in the building for 16 years. She told the Chronicle she was getting out of the shower Wednesday when she smelled what she likened to a campfire.

“I looked out the windows to see if I could see if there was something going on outside,” she said. “I didn’t see anything. And I didn’t hear any sirens. So I went into the hallway to see if I could smell any smoke out in the hallway. I didn’t smell anything out in the hallway, and I didn’t see anything going on. So I just kept checking the Citizen app.”

Sure enough, within 10 minutes, Orlando got an alert for a fire in her own building. She and her son grabbed their coats, phones and wallets and left, alerting neighbors on the way.

According to the Fire Department, a contractor was working in a vacant unit on the sixth floor of 43-09 47 Ave. at about 12 p.m. last Wednesday, and was using a torch to heat lead paint off a metal closet door frame. The employee noticed smoke coming from the door frame, so he removed the plaster from around the frame and saw small flames on the wood studs. He attempted to put out the fire using a bucket of water.

Soon after, an FDNY captain with Engine 325 arrived, and was shown the wooden studs. That’s when the captain realized the fire had extended into the building walls, and ordered the contractor to leave. Soon, it spread to the cockloft, the space between the ceiling and the roof, allowing flames to spread from the middle two wings of the building to the outer two, FDNY officials said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Within an hour and 15 minutes, the blaze had reached five alarms. After over four and a half hours and 198 firefighters across 44 units responding, the fire was declared under control.

In total, 14 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries; eight of them were civilians, two were police officers and four were firefighters. Six were sent to either Mt. Siani in Astoria or to NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst; four of the 14 refused medical attention.

“Yesterday’s fire in Sunnyside was nothing short of devastating,” Richards wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Thursday afternoon. “Hundreds of residents are facing so much uncertainty, just days before Christmas.”

According to the FDNY, the owner of the contracting company was issued three criminal summonses for the use of an illegal torch and lacking fire guards and a certificate of fitness.

Blaze destroys notorious riverfront restaurant where The Blaz took bribes

LIC Post 

A fire tore through a well-known shuttered waterfront restaurant in Long Island City early Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The blaze broke out at 4-01 44th Dr. — the site of a dilapidated former restaurant called Waters Edge that sits atop a barge — and the FDNY responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call at around 6:45 a.m. an FDNY spokesperson said.

Video footage posted online shows smoke billowing up from the two-story building while flames can be seen through the large windows facing 44^th Drive on the second floor, above the lobby area.

Around 60 firefighters from 12 units responded to the scene and brought the blaze under control just after 7:30 a.m., the FDNY said. At least two tower ladder trucks were put into operation, the footage shows.

The Queens/LIC Post arrived on the scene minutes after the fire had been extinguished. Several of the lobby windows facing 44^th Drive were smashed as well as windows facing the East River. The lobby area had extensive fire damage.

It is unclear what sparked the blaze, with the FDNY spokesperson saying the cause of the fire is under investigation. However, one firefighter at the location told the Queens/LIC Post that the abandoned restaurant was being used by homeless people, and they may have started the fire by accident.

There were no reported injuries.

 The abandoned restaurant, which first opened in 1980, has been closed for years and has a storied life having once stood as one of Long Island City’s most preeminent dining destinations with a spectacular view of midtown Manhattan.

It hosted countless weddings, birthday bashes and political fundraisers — including scandal-hit dinners for former mayor Bill de Blasio – and in April, the Queens/LIC Post reported that the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) planned to demolish the structure once it received the necessary funds. DCAS said it would take eight months to destroy the structure after the funds are received.

In 2008, restaurateur and philanthropist Harendra Singh and his Singh Hospitality Group acquired the premises.

But by the early 2010s, Singh began getting into financial difficulty and was reported to have owed the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent on the Water’s Edge barge lease.

DCAS was threatening to terminate the lease and Singh had also failed to pay for renovations to the pier where the barge was docked, which the agency said were required by his lease, according to THE CITY.

Singh held two fundraising events for Bill de Blasio at Waters Edge in the hope of currying favor with city hall: one in 2011 when de Blasio was still public advocate; and the second in October 2013 shortly after he beat former city Comptroller Bill Thompson in a runoff before taking the general election.

De Blasio’s campaign did not pay for the events until it forked out a check for $2,613.01 after the city’s Campaign Finance Board began auditing the campaign. Until that moment, the events were essentially an illegal free gift from Singh to de Blasio that the mayor’s campaign had failed to disclose to the public as required, according to THE CITY.

When he got into office, De Blasio instructed one of his top aides to step in with regard to resolving Singh’s lease. But before the matter could be sorted out Singh was arrested in September 2015 on federal corruption charges in Nassau County unrelated to the Water’s Edge restaurant.

 

Queens is burning again: Fire destroys Willets Point DOT warehouse building

 

 Eyewitness News

At least four firefighters were injured while battling a massive fire at a New York City Department of Transportation building in Queens.

FDNY officials say the five-alarm fire started at around 10 p.m. at the NYC DOT Harper Street Plant, a warehouse and maintenance space located on Harper Street in Willets Point.

Video from the Citizen App shows an orange glow lighting up the sky as smoke and flames pour out of that DOT facility.

As the fire grew in size, more fire crews were sent to the scene. Approximately 200 firefighters were tackling flames.

Officials say it took them over four hours to get the fire under control, with firefighters still dealing with hot spots into Tuesday morning.

Once all the hot spots have been put out, the fire marshal will investigate how the fire started.

Ebike fire destroys building, kills elderly woman and leaves other tenants homeless

  

NY1 

 

Thomas Rodriguez, a resident of Ozone Park, says he’s lucky his wife, 67-year-old Marie Rodriguez, and their dog Penny are alive after a fire tore through their apartment building Friday afternoon. 

“She was ready to jump. Don’t worry, the fire department is here and they’re going to bring up a ladder. They were able to get here. She was more concerned that she couldn’t get the dog out because of the smoke,” Thomas Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez was at work while the FDNY rescued his wife and their dog from the flames. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital for smoke inhalation, but has since been released. The couple lives at the back of a building on 98th Street in Ozone Park.

He says the owner of the building and his 93-year-old mother, Kam Mei Koo, live in the adjacent apartment. Koo did not survive her injuries and died as a result of the blaze, according to police.

“She was a very nice lady. She was to herself. She was 93-years-old. She could barely make it up the steps,” Rodriguez said.

The FDNY got a call at around 1:30 p.m. and says an e-bike was discovered at the scene. On Saturday, fire marshals determined that a lithium-ion caused the fire, which the department says was accidental.

Rodriguez says the owner charged the bike near the entrance of the building by a staircase leading to the two apartments in the building.

“I left this morning for work and noticed the bike was plugged in and I said, ‘Maybe I should unplug it.’ It’s been like that a few times and no problems, nothing,” Rodriguez said. “And you know what I told myself, ‘Maybe I should call my wife and tell her to unplug it’ but I got busy at work.”

Department of Transportation Alternatives truck has traffic violence explosion

 

LIC Post

 

An explosion stunned lunchtime crowds along Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City Wednesday afternoon.

A truck from the city’s Department of Transportation was parked on Vernon near 47th Avenue when it caught fire and exploded just after 1 p.m. on July 5. The four DOT employees who were working on pothole repairs in the Long Island City area parked their truck and went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. They noticed the vehicle smoking and it eventually caught fire before ultimately exploding, causing the evacuation of several stores and restaurants along the corridor.

None of the four DOT employees were injured in the blast.

“Safety of our employees and others is a top priority and we will investigate today’s truck fire,” a DOT spokesman said.

Lithium-ion battery explosion ruins Queens Man's life

AMNY 

Gabriel Dolores, a Mexican native and delivery worker residing in Corona, Queens, recently purchased a second-hand lithium-ion battery through Amazon in order to continue his job with Relay. It didn’t take long before disaster struck, and his life was forever altered.

With the help of a translator, Dolores recounted the fire that broke out at his home on the morning of March 17 when the battery burst as he recharged it, igniting flames in his home that left him homeless with burned, bubbled flesh.

According to FDNY sources, 60 firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to Dolores’ 96th Street residence in Corona, Queens at 6:34 a.m. While the fire was placed under control in under 30 minutes, he was whisked to Harlem Hospital with second degree burns.

“He is very sad because he lost everything. He lost his phone and he lost whatever he had in his room. His clothing, all of the important papers. He lost everything. Basically, right now he doesn’t even have underwear. It’s an unfortunate situation for him but he said he is grateful he is alive,” Jose Rodrigo Nevares Castilla said, a member of Dario De Los Delivery Boys, who helped provide translated details the dire situation.

E-bike fires have been tearing through New York City like a knife through hot butter, leaving destruction, charred apartments, and broken hearts in their wake.

It’s just the latest danger facing delivery workers in the Big Apple, who constantly deal with the threat of attempted bike robberies and traffic collisions in the sun, rain, and sleet. 

Resulting from relatively small Lithium-ion batteries, these power sources have a big impact on the lives of e-bike owners and their neighbors when these devices explode into fireballs. In a conversation with amNewYork Metro, Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn said that the batteries can explode while both on and off charge. He also recommended owners only use batteries that are paired with its designated bike. 

Dolores’ injuries came just days before Mayor Eric Adams signed a new package of legislation into law aiming to combat the sale and distribution of second-hand lithium-ion batteries across the city.

Queens is burning again: Ebike battery explosion torches a house with illegal daycare center

NY Daily News  

The Queens daycare where 18 children were injured after a fire broke out due to a faulty lithium-ion battery was unlicensed and illegally running out of a basement, the Daily News has learned.

The fire started in the basement of the two-story home on 72nd Drive near 147th St. in Kew Gardens Hills around 2:05 p.m., FDNY officials said.

Both the daycare and a dentist lab were operating in the basement, which had been converted without a Department of Buildings work permit, the DOB said.

The blaze spread through the cellar of the single-family home when a charging e-bike exploded, sources said.

When firefighters arrived, five adults, one teenager and 19 children ranging from 16 months to 5-years-old were inside, the sources added.

A 16-month-old toddler was critically injured in the fire. The other kids did not require treatment, FDNY officials and sources said.

The injured buy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Thursday, sources said.

The childcare center is unlicensed, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services told The News.

“The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally,” an OCFS spokesperson said in a statement.

A childcare license is required by the state if a person or program is caring for more than two children who are not related to them, away from the child’s home and on a regular basis for three or more hours per day.

Officials are still investigating whether the 18 children in the house were related to the home owner operating the daycare.

The DOB issued the owner two violations for illegal construction work to the basement and for operating businesses out of the space. City records had listed the basement as a storage area, the agency said.

 

Queens is burning again. It's a lithium ion battery again.

 

Eyewitness News 

 One person was killed and several others were injured in a house fire that broke out in Queens.

Officials say the heavy flames tore through the home on 89th Street in East Elmhurst at around 11 p.m. Friday.

As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, they found a man in his 60s unconscious on the second floor. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Some of the other residents were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Residents say an e-scooter could be to blame for the fire.

"I unplugged the scooter, I was on the first floor. As I'm putting cereal in a bowl, I heard an explosion, like gunfire. As I open the door to the second floor, those stairs were already on fire in seconds. It was a disaster," Jose Corona said.

Firefighters did pull a burnt scooter from the residence, but the official cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

Open street blocks fire engine from fire

Blazing restaurant shanty delays transit service on the 7 line

Outside Dining Structure Engulfed in Flames @CitizenApp

84-19 Roosevelt Ave 2:20:01 AM EDT

Queens is still burning: Explosion and fire destroys three houses in South Richmond Hill, kills family of three

 

Impunity City 

Nine families living in two family houses. A few of them living in the basements, which included the family that perished from the explosion and the inferno. While the block is a close knit community, these families could have lived in a safer home if the city didn’t have such an incremental “affordable housing” program for middle class and working poor families and built 75-80% of it for wealthier people. How many more citizens will have to risk their lives and livelihoods to find an affordable place to live? And how many homeowners can hang on to their properties with the massive taxes they pay compared to ones in wealthier enclaves that they have to rent out their basements to settle in their hometowns?

 

Queens is still the city's bastard stepchild

Queens is still burning: water pressure difficulties led to supply store inferno

 

Queens Chronicle

Two fires hit Jamaica last Wednesday just hours apart. The first was at 101 Plumbing & Electrical Supplies and the second at a two-story vacant commercial building that was once used as a Nissan car dealership.

The blazes at both locations were so severe that the city Department of Buildings held an interagency meeting at the site of 101 Plumbing on Tuesday with representatives of other city agencies, the owner, Lakhinder Multani, and his private engineer, and it also issued a full vacate order for the former car dealership directly after the March 30 fire, which remained in effect after a follow-up inspection on Monday.

The DOB on Tuesday approved plans by Multani to demolish the electrical supply store, located at 138-14 101 Ave., and work was expected to begin that day, according to a spokesman from the agency. An update on the status of the demolition will be issued later this week.

The fire at the plumbing store, went to five alarms, according to the FDNY’s acting chief of department, John Hodgens.

“We had heavy smoke coming from a one-story commercial building ... and a collapse of parts of the interior of the building,” Hodgens said at press conference on March 30.

The blaze at the store, which housed a shop and an industrial warehouse, required the deployment of more than 200 firefighters and EMS workers dispatched from 44 units, according to the FDNY.

“We have no injuries reported,” Hodgens said of civilians. “Our chief concern is containing this fire and preventing it from spreading to the building on either sides of it. We are going to be here for a while.”

The city Department of Environmental Protection had to step in to help contain the fire because of water pressure issues, according to Hodgens.

“We didn’t have enough water coming out from the hydrant main system,” said the fire chief. “We needed DEP to step in and help us isolate [the problem] to get better water pressure.”

Cars had to also be moved for firefighters to put out the blaze, added Hodgens.

“Sometimes we have to use tow trucks to move them,” he said. “We need to get the apparatus into the building to be effective.”

Houses also surrounded the electrical supply store, which was also a cause of concern for Hodgens.

“We addressed that immediately,” said Hodgens. “The fire is contained to 101 Electrical Supplies.”

The fire at the supply store was under control at 1:11 a.m., according to the FDNY.

The city Department of Buildings arrived March 30 and conducted structural stability inspections, according to a DOB spokesman. Inspectors documented extensive fire damage to the property, including the collapse of the building’s roof. The adjoining premises, 138-18 101 Ave, suffered damage to its garage and due to the severity of the damage and the interest of public safety, a full vacate order was issued last Friday.

Queens is burning: Merchant building collapses after early morning fire in Flushing

The doors of safety perception

THE CITY 

 Four years before the conflagration that claimed the lives of 17 New Yorkers at the Twin Parks apartments in The Bronx, a devastating blaze tore through another building in the borough under remarkably similar circumstances.

On a frigid night shortly after Christmas 2017, fire broke out in the kitchen of a first floor apartment at 2363 Prospect Ave. in Belmont. Within minutes, thick black smoke spread throughout the building, and when it was over, 13 tenants had perished, including an infant. Six firefighters were injured.

In both the Twin Parks and Prospect Avenue fires, the death toll was magnified by a simple but deadly flaw: smoke and flame caused by a fire in a single apartment rocketed throughout both buildings after doors remained open.

An open door also fanned the flames in a blaze that consumed a Jackson Heights apartment building, leaving dozens of families homeless.

Today despite a repeated cycle of outrage and reform — including tougher penalties against landlords following the Belmont tragedy — thousands of self-closing doors that do not function properly still fill New York City, fully known to housing and fire officials.

Those malfunctioning doors are especially prevalent in lower-income neighborhoods dense with apartment buildings, an analysis by THE CITY of city records has found.

Thousands of violations remain unresolved for either non-functioning or non-existent self-closing doors across New York City, code violation records kept by the city Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) show.

Examining every door violation filed by inspectors from Jan. 1, 2019 through the end of 2021, THE CITY found 18,305 open violations remained in 10,610 buildings as of Jan. 11, 2022.

More than 4,800 of those open citations are at least two years old, dating back to inspections that took place in 2019.

“Those statistics show what I’ve been saying repeatedly, which is we need strong housing laws,” said Coumcilmember Oswald Feliz (D-The Bronx), chair of the Council’s newly formed Fire Prevention Task Force. “We also need a system that promptly detects violations and a system that takes quick action to make sure that violations once detected are quickly cured.”

Overall, including violations since certified as fixed, inspectors wrote up 74,448 citations across all five boroughs during the three-year period.

Any residential building with three or more units must have spring-loaded doors that close automatically, under state law and city codes.

Many of the buildings with doors in violation for lacking self-closing mechanisms are located near those that burned in The Bronx and Queens,

THE CITY found 378 open violations for non-functioning or non-existent self-closing doors in 233 buildings as of Jan. 11 in ZIP code 10458 — where the Prospect Avenue fire took place.

That includes a 48-unit rental building across the street from the fire with two open violations, both dating back to October 2021, and one open violation, also dating to October, at a 160-unit building around the corner on Southern Boulevard.

As of last July, thanks to a reform that followed the 2017 Belmont fire, all such violations get cited as “immediately hazardous,” the most severe class of housing code violation.

A 47-unit building at 246 E. 199th St. had 10 open citations for self-closing door violations as of last week, some of which date back to 2019.

HPD notified the landlord months ago, but as of Friday none had been resolved. All but one of the citations were classified as an “immediate hazard.”