A piece in The New York Times today shows that that the residents of 475 Kent are not prepared to go quietly after their recent eviction due to fire safety violations. Even the landlord of the owner of the nearly block-long building near the Navy Yard in Brooklyn wants his tenants back in and is cooperating with them to that end. more ›

The Fire Department revealed statistics showing that response times have decreased for the third year in a row. The 2007 average response time, based on 490,767 calls, was 4 minutes and 49 seconds (for FDNY & EMS services). In 2006, the average response time was 4 minutes, 54 seconds and in 2005 it was 5 minutes, 9 seconds. Response time is a general term for any sort of vehicle to come on the scene, not necessarily a fire truck, and could be for a water main break. more ›

Peter Braunstein really loves the New York Post. The fashion industry reporter-turned-prison inmate, after being recently convicted of the kidnapping, sex assault, armed robbery and burglary of a former co-worker on Halloween in 2005, gives his first interview since being locked up this past summer to the tabloid. more ›

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,... more ›

We love timely tips from the FDNY! The Fire Department is reminding New Yorkers that deep-frying turkeys is very, very dangerous. Why? Well, the fryers easily tip over and many fryers don't have automatic temperature control. Also, "oil may spill from the fryer onto the burner causing a fire." Underwriters Laboratories has a video of what can go wrong during turkey deep-frying and it is insane. It does seem like there's at least one deep-fried... more ›

The Fire Department believes a bad connection from the gas line to the stove, not a gas leak, caused the explosion that caused a flash fire at 10 West 119th Street in Harlem on Saturday. Several people were injured, including four children and their mother who lived in the apartment. more ›

A family is mourning the death of a 7-month-old boy who died during an electrical fire on East 3rd Street yesterday morning. The Fire Department believes that the fire was caused by a "faulty timer that was rigged to an air conditioner in the baby's third-floor room." more ›

Yet another depressing fact revealed about the Deutsche Bank demolition in the wake of two firefighters' deaths. The NY Times reports that contractors had created an emergency exit plan through sealed stairwells, but the firefighters didn't know about the plan. Fire department spokesman Francis X. Gribbon told the Times, “The Fire Department was not involved in creating this plan, specifically — and most importantly — with regard to the sealed staircases. We were not notified about it. We were not consulted about it.” more ›

The Fire Department is investigating whether standpipes failed to bring firefighters water to help fight a seven-alarm fire that broke out on the 17th floor of the Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. The cause of the fire, which spread between the 14th and 26th floors of the lower Manhattan building, is also unclear, though the FDNY suspects it may have been caused by a cigarette or a faulty electrical panel. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person under a train at Prospect Park and Windsor Pl. in Brooklyn, an attempted bank robbery on Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, and a successful bank robbery on East 23rd St. in Manhattan.
• The Fire Dept. is responding to a scaffolding fire that broke out at the Deutsche Bank building, which is being deconstructed on Liberty St. downtown. One firefighter has already been evacuated from the building and being given CPR.
• Nicole Richie and Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte were spotted at Penn Station yesterday, hopping a train bound for Washington, DC's Union Station.
• New York's Peruvian community is worrying and organizing in the wake of a massive earthquake that killed hundreds of people in Peru. NY1 has contact information on how to donate to an earthquake relief fund established to aid survivors.
• A group of Brooklyn parrots have reportedly migrated (probably from Green-Wood Cemetary) to Park Slope's 8th Ave. and 14th St.
• Police arrested 24-year-old Rodolfo Godinez and a teenage companion in suburban Maryland today in connection to the execution-style killings of three young people in Newark, NJ.
• Dept. of Health inspectors are patrolling the Red Hook ballfields this weekend, making sure that food vendors possess the proper permits and checking food preparation methods.
• Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Joe Gould, who died in a Long Island psychiatric facility. The NY Times' remembrance of the man includes a literary spoiler, so we recommend just picking up a copy of Joseph Mitchell's twin anthology of "Professor Sea Gull" and "Joe Gould's Secret" to read the story of two true New Yorkers.

A 46-year-old Brooklyn man shot his 21-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Lebrun Dossous, who the Post and Daily News describe as being depressed (the News suggests that he was "despondent that his son was moving out"), shot his son five times while he was taking a shower. Then Dossous shot himself in his bedroom. more ›

MOVIE: Last week Bryant Park was packed as Annie Hall played on the big screen. This week grab someone who's hand you'll be able to squeeze tight as the classic horror flick, The Thing, plays in the park. The timeless flick watches the sci-fi terror unfold as "scientists at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. Upon closer examination, they discover the frozen pilot. All hell breaks loose when they take him back to their station and he is accidentally thawed out!" more ›

The Fire Department has revealed the cause of yesterday's fire on the roof of 515 West 34th Street: Careless smoking. There are no further details, but we imagine careless smoking means a smoker on the rooftop didn't properly extinguish a butt. more ›

In the Seinfeld episode "The Fire", Jerry is furious at a woman Kramer brings to a performance, who heckles him incessantly during his act. Her words succinctly describe the ethos of the heckler: "Well, that's the way I express myself. How are you gonna make it in this business if you can't take it?" more ›

Families, neighbors, and others mourned Wednesday night's fire that gutted a 4-story Bronx home and claimed the lives of nine people, including eight children. Fire officials investigated the Highbridge section structure, which was home to twenty-two Malian immigrants and believed that a space heater on the garden floor bedroom overheated and caused the fire, which spread uncontrollably due to what the NY Times calls "the most basic of human oversights and seemingly innocuous events." The space heater apparently ignited clothes and mattresses. more ›

The Fire Department has been working with the US Naval Research Laboratory to develop transmitting chips for firefighter's gear that will allow electronic tracking of firefighters on the scene of a blaze. The chip would have to withstand the heat, smoke and water found while fighting a fire. It would be activated when a firefighter boards a truck to respond to a call. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, six adults and five children were stuck in an elevator for over three hours. The Fire Department was called to the Polo Grounds housing project in West Harlem when someone reported the elevator was stuck between the 15th and 16th floors. more ›

The city's Department of Investigation revealed that 14 current city firefighters have used fake college diplomas bought online to get ahead in the FDNY. And for three of them, it worked, making their way to positions like Deputy Chief and Battalion Chief! In the FDNY, you need at least 15 college credits to be hired and more to be promoted (ten of the other eleven fake-diploma-holders eventually got enough credit later on to be legitimately hired or promoted). more ›

THEATER: Joe's Pub hosts SpeakEasy, a theatrical "event" written by Neil LaBute, Edwin Sanchez, Theresa Rebeck and many others. The performance will happen throughout the Joe's Pub space, "surrounding the spectator with the bizarre, the comic, the seductive, and the sublime. Neo-Vaudeville meets social satire in this giant play with environmental staging, original music, and compelling new writing." It's the launch of The Fire Dept. a new theater company; this show features Janeane Garafalo and Kathleen Chalfant, among others. - John Del Signore more ›

It was a normal Friday morning commute on the L train for many - until some substance caused the entire line to be shut down in both directions due to what the MTA's website calls a "police investigation." more ›

- And on a final non-NYC-but-big-movie-fan note, Chicagoist has a very special Get Well Roger Ebert project. Add your photograph of you giving the thumbs-up to the Get Well Roger Flickr Pool to let the recuperating critic know you care! And Roger definitely knows about it - it's on his website, too! more ›

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A three story building at 34 East 62nd Street, between Madison and Park Avenues, has collapsed. Reports say that there was an explosion and fire. It's unclear if there are any people inside. Fire Department staging is at East 65th Street; expect lots of traffic diversions in that area. more ›

The Fire Department unveiled its memorial to the firefighters who "fell" and "who carry on" yesterday afternoon. The 56-foot long bas-relief is on the side of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10 at 124 LIberty Street. The NY Times described it as a "full panorama, centered on the flaming towers, with heroic and humbled firefighters on either side." Almost immediately after the unveiling, family members were rubbing paper against the memorial's names. Fire Chief Peter Hayden made this pointed remark about the memorial: "We've had empty promises from empty suits, but the Fire Department has fulfilled its promise." more ›

Gothamist now officially cannot wait for 2007: The Fire Department has released its new New York City Firefighters Calendar! Yes, it's another new edition of firefighters posing shirtless in neighborhoods and in front of landmarks, with proceeds going to the The Children's Storefront, a tuition-free school in Harlem, and the Thomas R. Elsasser Fund, which raises money for firefighters' families. You can buy the calendar online from the NYFirestore ($14.99), but we recommend heading to the Firestore's new 17 Greenwich Avenue location on Thursday, where the FDNY hunks will be signing calendars at 5-8PM. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, a pizzeria on Avenue U in Brooklyn got an unexpected delivery - through its front facade. Linda Danielson had backed her SUV into Trio Pizzeria; she had been trying to back into a parking space, but her sandal got caught in the gas pedal! And what's more, she doesn't even have a driver's license! Holy moly, what the hell are people thinking. Danielson's accident not only caused a senior citizen to have a heart attack (her Land Rover brushed him when it was on the sidewalk), it also pinned pizza delivery man Antonio Garcia into the counter. The Fire Department had to use the jaws of life (aka the Hurst tool) and airbags (to lift the car) to get Garcia out; he has severe leg injuries. more ›

There are a few pieces of ground zero news today, so we're just going to resort to that old school blog fallback, the roundup: more ›

The Fire Department's arson investigators will be looking for traces of accelerants left at the Greenpoint Terminal Market site, though it's possible much evidence has been destroyed from the 10 alarm fire that lasted almost two days. The real estate dealings behind the warehouse are of natural interest in the investigation, though sources say that the land's owner, Joshua Guttman, is not a suspect. Guttman, who bought the buildings for $25 million in 2001, had sold the property for $420 million last year to Baruch Singer, but the deal is at the heart of a lawsuit. The NY Sun explains that Singer lost his financing before closing, so "Guttman then voided the deal, and seized Mr. Singer's $42 million deposit." Now Singer is suing for his deposit, claiming there was an oral agreement to close six months later, and says that Guttman changed his mind about selling. The NY Times notes that Singers' buildings in the city have been issued "thousands of citations" (we feel like we've seen the word "slumlord" used to describe him). more ›

Firefighters are still working to put out the huge ten-alarm Brooklyn warehouse fire that started yesterday at 5:30AM. Fifteen buildings the Greenpoint Terminal Market were hit by the fire. The Fire Department used eight to nine million gallons of water during their work, and since there was no "immediate threat to life," the fire became a sort of clinic for the department to "plan strategy," according to the NY Times; the FDNY also used the "surround and down" tactic, with tower ladders on the streets and fireboats in the water. Of course, the fire's scale drew comparisons to September 11, especially with the burnt, acrid smell creeping across the Brooklyn and the rest of the city. Fourteen firefighters suffered minor injuries, with no civilians injured. more ›

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