New York – Building a Death Trap

New York – For decades, volunteer firefighting officials in Rockland have warned that one day their colleagues would die, trapped in an illegally converted apartment or condo, running into rooms without windows or walls blocking what they expected would be an escape route. So many single-family homes have been altered into two, four and even six apartments that the officials were certain tragedy would someday strike. It was just a matter of when and where.

When that sorrowful day came, one firefighter from Rockland died and another suffered severe injuries. The fire in which they became trapped swept through a tenement in the Bronx on Jan. 23, 2005 – a day the FDNY now knows as Black Sunday. In all, six members of the FDNY were trapped by the flames and forced to jump from a fourth-story window.
Firefighter John Bellew, 37, of Pearl River, a father of four, and Lt. Curtis Meyran of Malverne were killed. Four others, including Jeffery Cool of Pomona, sustained serious injury.

Verdicts are in

Two separate juries heard testimony in the Bronx as two tenants stood accused of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. Although there was testimony that they had created additional rooms in their respective apartments and rented them out, they were acquitted on all charges.

The other jury, which considered the same charges against the building’s manager and a limited liability corporation that owns it, concluded its deliberations Wednesday.

Cesar Rios, the manager, and the corporate owner were also acquitted of manslaughter but were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment after prosecutors argued they should have been aware of the illegal conversions.

Rios faces up to five years in prison on the two charges when he is sentenced in a few months. A manslaughter conviction alone would have carried up to 15 years in prison. The corporate owners face only a fine of up to $15,000, a penalty that’s hardly a deterrent – less than the yearly rent on many typical suburban or city apartments.

Sending a message

Wednesday’s verdict swept away some of the pain and frustration of last week’s acquittals for Cool and the families and colleagues of Bellew, Meyran and the others. Although the juries had differing findings, the mere prosecution of the case could still be a lifesaver. That is, if a homeowner or landlord learns the real dangers from breaking building codes, creating illegal apartments, subdividing a residence.

Those issues are real throughout suburbia as well, with some homeowners trying to make ends meet by creating rooms or apartments to rent. Sometimes, though, it has gone way beyond that, with developers getting approval for building plans and then making radical changes without the knowledge of zoning or fire officials.

That has long been the genesis of the fears among Rockland’s all-volunteer firefighting corps.

The issue boiled over locally two years ago, when Moleston Fire District threatened to remove the Village of New Square from its jurisdiction, a dramatic move to call attention to a plethora of building code and zoning violations there.

Firefighters have time and time again found themselves entering a home to be confronted by a business, extra apartments or illegal living space on a third or fourth floor. These are real dangers for firefighters who can’t anticipate a floor plan, or may be met with chemicals used in a basement manufacturing facility.

The issue there has improved, but in every town, illegal conversions are a risk to firefighters’ safety. The criminal trial underscored the dangers that lurk in illegal conversions – from an urban apartment building to a makeshift rooming house in suburbia, or an undetected business hidden in a split-ranch basement.

Unless our communities tighten code enforcement, and our legislators enact fines with real teeth, it’s a deadly problem that will grow as more homeowners and developers cut corners to make a buck in a tight-credit, recession-wracked economy.