Results tagged “smoke”

About an hour ago there was what the MTA was describing as a "subway smoke condition" near West 53rd Street and 7th Avenue. We just received some photos of a manhole fire at that intersection, and NotifyNYC is now alerting straphangers that "the F and V trains are suspended in Manhattan. B and D trains are diverted onto the A line between West 57th Street and West 4th Street." NY1 adds that there has been a "forced evacuation" but no injuries have been reported yet.

First they came for the smokers in bars and restaurants, and we said nothing—we simply enjoyed breathing air without carcinogens. Now the Mayor is coming for the smokers on park benches and beach towels, and we're still saying nothing! As part of an ambitious new public health initiative, city health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley announced that the Bloomberg administration would seek to ban smoking in all city parks and beaches. Public health advocates like Dr. David A. Kessler are elated; he tells City Room, "The issues with secondhand smoke are very real and the majority of the population today doesn’t want to be breathing in tobacco smoke, whether indoors or outdoors." Farley says the proposal to proscribe cigs may require the approval of the City Council, and health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti tells Bloomberg News that officials haven’t yet devised "a specific strategy for reducing smoking in parks." But if cops can be as militant about busting smokers as they are ticketing people for public drinking, we're sure this'll be a big cash crop for the city.

A fire broke out at a warehouse, located at 27th Street and 50th Avenue, just before 6 a.m. and has grown into a three-alarm blaze. The smoke has been so heavy that all westbound Long Island Expressway lanes were shut down temporarily—they have since reopened but there are still delays near the Queens Midtown Tunnel. According to MyFoxNY, "NY Traffic Authority Ines Rosales recommends drivers in the area take the 59th Street Bridge or get off on Queens Boulevard and take the Queens Borough Bridge." And firefighters are still working to get the fire under control.

According to the Post, two JetBlue flights had issues after take-off from JFK Airport last week, requiring both to return to the airport. On Monday, "smoke seeped into the cabin of JetBlue Flight 654, which was bound for Rochester, NY, and carrying 40 passengers, just after takeoff." The pilot told air-traffic control, "We need to return immediately. We have some smoke in the cabin," before "briefly" losing contact but ultimately made it back safe. The FAA found no cause for the smoke. Then on Friday, "an electrical smell filled JetBlue Flight 63, bound for Tampa and carrying 63 passengers, just after it took off"; the plane managed to land safely. And a JetBlue flight landed in Bahamas on Thursday just as a fire was spotted on the left wing. The Post says all planes were the Embraer 1910 model and have been taken out of service as JetBlue investigates.

Yesterday, smoke escaped from the former Deutsche Bank building on Liberty Street—the Daily News reports, "It turned out the smoke was from a battery-powered forklift that overheated about 4 a.m. Firefighters simply unplugged it." And while firefighters were on the scene, they found that a switch for an air-filtration system (you know, to keep toxic air—the building is full of debris from the 9/11 attacks— from escaping the building) wasn't working, so work was halted. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is overseeing the demolition of the building, believes the building will be decontaminated by July and ready for demolition in January. In 2007, a seven-alarm fire, started by a worker's cigarette, killed two firefighters and, in 2006, it was hoped the building would be gone by...2007.

Think you're safe from lung cancer because you don't smoke? Here's a fun fact: Secondhand smoke is estimated to account for at least 35,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,000 deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers nationwide each year. And a recently-published study suggests that New Yorkers are even more at risk because our dense urban environment results in a greater exposure to secondhand smoke.

With the weather warming, this will likely become less of a visible concern, but the City should also view the spring and summer as an opportunity to crack down on buildings who spew oily black smoke across the New York's skyline. The Gay Recluse has been concerned for some time about the cluster of chimneys in his Washington Heights neighborhood that spew plumes of noxious smoke into the air.

    

Thick black smoke hovering above Washington Heights is apparently a common occurrence, but it is legal? The Gay Recluse has some photos of the area and says it's the result of "improperly maintained or outdated boiler systems," with one building in particular being a main culprit (671 West 162nd Street). Has anyone seen something similar, or worse? This certainly can't be helping with the rising asthma problem.

The Brooklyn fire that killed FDNY Lt. John H. Martinson was caused by a six-year-old child who was playing with wrapping or packaging paper over the open flames of a stove left on to heat a 14th floor apartment. When the paper caught fire, the boy attempted to hide the smoldering paper under a mattress, trailing embers throughout the apartment. When the child's mother discovered the bedroom in flames, she grabbed the six-year-old and his twin brother and fled from the building. The door to the apartment was left open, however, allowing billowing smoke to fill the hallway.