Update: Oreo, Dog Thrown Off Building, Was Euthanized
People Wait For Tomorrow's UWS Apple Store Opening
Emily and Sarah Kunstler, Filmmakers
Cheap Chicken Wing Deal Ruined by Gunslinging Teens
FIT Students Busted For Drug Dealing Get Probation
A two-alarm fire broke out at a 6-floor apartment building on West 148th Street and Riverside Drive around 8:40 p.m., and a man and a 5- or 6-year-old boy died after jumping from the sixth floor. The man, believed to be the boy's godfather, was pronounced dead at the scene while the boy apparently went into cardiac arrest and died at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief John Scudnik said they couldn't get to the fire escape, "The conditions were probably so unbearable that he probably chose to get out on the window ledge and fell."
Eight people, including two firefighters, were injured in the blaze. Another person, a woman believed to be the boy's mother, tried to get out from a sixth floor bedroom, but was unable to open the window because of the child safety bars and an air-conditioner. Scudnik said, "that probably saved her life."
The fire had started on the fifth floor, but quickly spread to the top floor, and residents said te heat and smoke were intense (the FDNY says the building's alarms were working). They also blamed the building's old wiring.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I'm not going to say that all old buildings should be converted to new glass and steel structures, but the fact is that a lot of older buildings probably have hidden hazards and problems, stuff behind the walls that usually isn't addressed until something goes wrong. Old wiring, old plumbing, lead paint, asbestos, bad insulation.
I've always loved living in old buildings, but the more I look up at my building and see every window filled with A/C units, and the more often I wake up in a minor black-out due to our faulty (revamped recently, mind you) wiring, the more I'm starting to appreciate the idea of central air and safer conditions.
It's obscene to see how many A/C units there are in the windows of all these old buildings. It makes me wonder why not give us each a little portion of the world to throw away wastefully? I was in the market for a second A/C for the livingroom, when it suddenly hit me that it was just plain wrong. And besides, I might burn the building down because the living room isn't set up for A/C electrical needs. It can barely handle the few lamps I've got in there!