City Cracks Down on Fire Code Violators

After two firefighters died in a building with multiple code violations, the city has become more aggressive in making sure the fire code is being obeyed. The Department of Investigation announced it arrested 104 people in the past week for violations like "faulty sprinklers, blocked exits and no fire extinguishers."

The arrestees are Building and business owners and workers at commercial and residential sites who have not appeared in court about outstanding fire code violations. The FDNY and DOI hope that this will scare other violators into fixing problems; DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said, "Ignoring these means we are going to slap the handcuffs on you."

The fire code was revised earlier this year--completely revised for the first time in a century. At the fatal Deutsche Bank fire last August, among the many violations at the building, there was no standpipe to bring water to the upper floors where firefighters were trying to tame a 7-alarm blaze. In fact, a 20-foot piece of standpipe had been removed.

Photograph of a properly noted temporary standpipe by deepersea on Flickr