Fire Season Off To A Tragic Start

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Fire season is off to a tragic start. The past three weekends, there have been fatal fires involving children.

Last night, in the Bronx, there was a fire that killed three children. It's reported that Con Ed had turned the power off the day before. The cause, candles. No smoke detector either. The building was near a fire in 2007 that killed 10, including 8 children.

Last weekend it was in Elmsford, which according to sources, the child was in the attic....in which a bedroom is illegal. It also sounds like the house was overcrowded, according to news reports.

We keep hearing these conditions year after year, and despite all the fire prevention done, people are still dying. I understand people are just trying to get by and living in poverty conditions, but what will it take to stop all these fires in that demographic? More code enforcement, social services?

Isn't this one reason why there are laws that concern temperature in apartments? Maybe when Con Ed or other utilities shut off services, they should notify someone .

[antiquefirelt 994]

Isn't this one reason why there are laws that concern temperature in apartments? Maybe when Con Ed or other utilities shut off services, they should notify someone .

I'm not sure how it is in NY, but up this way many (most) apartment buildings make the tenant pay for their own heat whenever possible, which leads to those who can't afford it resorting to alternative measures: open ovens, kero-sun heaters in the living room, propane lollipops, you name it. In those buildings where heat is provided cold weather visits frequently reveal windows open and the heat cranked, why not, they're not paying for it.

Typically these issues are circular in nature, the absentee landlord could care less about the actual renters and the renters could care less about maintaining the landlord's property or money. The two groups end up despising each other. When I meet landlords or building supervisors for the first time (usually outside their building for an inspection) I can tell you the conditions we'll find inside from just a few minutes taking to the landlord. Almost never fails the landlord makes excuses about the condition of the building due to his" dirt bag renters". When we talk to the renters privately they typically reveal complaints about leaky faucets/pipes, electrical issues, stoves that don't work, heat that's irregular and more, all of which go either unanswered or very slowly corrected.

Conversely, the landlord/owners that are onsite or who are local tend to take care of their properties and their people and the renters pay it back by treating the property better. The answer is to find a way to hold both parties accountable for their responsibilities. I know that I as a taxpayer have a hard time paying for people rent in buildings that aren't up to code. On the other side I also hate that we pay people rent who haven't the decency to take care of what they're given (a place to live). This is part of our overall morale dilemma. Those who abuse the system make it difficult for those of us who support it (pay taxes) to feel good about it when our paychecks are shrinking. On the other hand we're way past ever turning people out into the cold with no social services (food, shelter, medical care). If the abuse could be curtailed we'd all pay less and feel better.

Edited October 26, 2013 by antiquefirelt