Fatal fire in Brooklyn Shows Need for Fire Sprinklers

A three-story apartment building on Flatbush Avenue near Farragut Road in Brooklyn erupted into flames in the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 19th. The blaze claimed the life of a 24-year-old man and injured 16 others, including six who were listed as critical. The fire occurred on a night where temperatures dropped to below freezing. While there is not yet an official cause of the fire, the winter months are historically the most dangerous in terms of fire fatalities in the United States and New York is no exception. Space heaters, radiators, fire places and candles kill many New Yorkers each year.

While all homes are susceptible to fire, apartment buildings and multi-family residences can be more difficult to escape once the structure is fully involved. Communal staircases can act as a chimney, pulling deadly smoke past all apartment doorways, flooding each apartment and overpowering residents who try to flee. People may be fast asleep and if one or more apartment does not have a working smoke alarm each passing minute makes escape more dangerous. Wednesday night on Flatbush Avenue is one of thousands of stories told each year that does not have a happy ending.

In August, Governor Cuomo signed legislation that will ensure prospective tenants and homebuyers are properly informed about the fire safety of the homes they move into. Legislation S5212A, A7641A requires all apartments or homes in New York to display information on the home’s level of fire protection, including whether the structure is protected by a fire sprinkler system. After 32 years as a firefighter I can tell you that this is a step in the right direction, but until all of these homes are protected by fire sprinkler systems, designed to quell these blazes before they can spread and kill, we will unfortunately continue to read stories without a happy ending.

You can learn more about residential fire sprinklers at www.homefiresprinkler.org

Sincerely,

Dominick Kasmauskas

New York Regional Manager, National Fire Sprinkler Association

Rotterdam, NY