Lawsuit Over Misdirected 911 Call, Illegally Subdivided Apts

Last month, a typo apparently sent firefighters on a wild goose chase and delayed them from reaching a Queens fire where three people were killed and four injured in an illegally subdivided home. Now, one of the victims is suing the city. The NY Post reports, "Shari Ahammed, 30, spent 18 days in a burn unit after his hair caught fire as he tried to alert fellow residents of the illegally subdivided house in Woodside. [His] lawyer, Herb Subin, said he'll file a notice of claim for unspecified damages Monday." Subin noted, "The Department of Buildings should never have let this place be carved up into five apartments. And the Fire Department should not have sent fire engines to the wrong house. The delay was over five minutes."

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By Jen Chung in News on December 17, 2009 10:40 AM

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laura winslow

nothing worse than people trying to make someone else pay for their stupidity/cheapness.

as a tenant, they probably already knew the situation was illegal but ignored it for the cheaper rent.

if you can stay there to pay less rent then you need to accept the consequences.

and the whole delay in response is a terrible thing, never should have happened but outside of health care/law enforcement everyone else is allowed to make a mistake at work but these professionals who have the hardest jobs of all are held to different standards.