A resident impacted by the fi re exits Ustin Hall at Monroe College with donations in hand on Monday, Jan. 10.
Photo | Adrian Childress
A resident impacted by the fi re exits Ustin Hall at Monroe College with donations in hand on Monday, Jan. 10.
Fireproof building should have saved those lives: FDNY captain
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J BTR JAN. 14-20, 2022 11
BY JASON COHEN
While the fi ve-alarm fi vealarm
fi re in the Bronx Sunday
that killed 17, including eight
children, was one of the worst
in NYC history, the deaths were
avoidable, according to a highranking
fi re offi cial.
FDNY Capt. Michael Kozo,
the commanding offi cer of the
FDNY’s Fire Safety Education
Unit, said the Twin Parks
North West complex at 333 E.
181st St., in Fordham Heights
was a fi reproof building, meaning
if people had stayed in their
apartments, the majority would
be alive today. The excessive
smoke and the inhalation of
those fumes — not the fi re itself
— is what resulted in the
17 fatalities as people tried to
escape.
The Jan. 9 blaze, believed to
have been started by a faulty
space heater, is the worst fi re
in the borough since the Happy
Land social club arson fi re in
1990, which claimed 87 lives.
Kozo was invited to talk
about the major blaze at the
Bronx Community Board 5
Police Merchants Meeting
on Monday night. He said the
apartment doors in the building
are supposed to self-close,
yet one malfunctioned, which
allowed the smoke to spread
quickly from the unit in which
the fi re originated.
“One of the lessons we
learned today is everybody
needs to know the type of building
they live in,” Kozo said.
The captain told the Bronx
Times that buildings 75 feet or
higher are designed to withstand
fi res for three to four
hours. He said fi re safety plans
explaining how to escape in
the event of a fi re are typically
posted in the lobby or common
area. Those plans should also
explain that the building is in
fact fi reproof, he added.
Kozo said the best options
for residents facing such a situation
would have been to stuff a
cold damp towel under the door
and stay in the apartment until
the fi re is controlled or help arrives,
or if they left their apartment,
to make sure the door
shut behind them.
“We saw a lot of people trying
to exit the building,” he
said. “It’s usually safer to stay
inside your apartment.”
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera
and Bronx Borough President
Vanessa Gibson also attended
the meeting and praised the
FDNY for their heroism.
The fi re, only a few blocks
from Rivera’s district offi ce
on Grand Concourse, hit very
close to home, he said.
“It’s times like these when
we are reminded how essential
these folks are,” said Rivera
about the FDNY. “Thank you
for the work you guys do.”
Gibson, who is in just her
second week on the job as borough
president, has been seen
everywhere from at the scene of
the fi re early on Sunday afternoon
to trying to fi nd ways to
help the displaced residents of
Twin Parks — included appearing
on CNN on Monday night.
She thanked her colleagues
in government, the fi rst responders
and praised New
Yorkers as they have already
received enough donations of
clothes and supplies and right
now are only asking for fi nancial
help.
“It’s our mission and goal to
provide as much support as we
can for the residents of Twin
Parks,” she said. “I’m asking
all of you to pray for the families.
They are traumatized, but
we will be with them every step
of the way.”
Gibson added she has even
received calls from Hot97 and
Cardi B and A Boogie, Bronx
rap artists, about how they can
help.
“We are not going to rest until
every family is accommodated,”
she said. “My heart is so
broken when I think about the
families we lost.”
Those interested can donate
to the GoFundMe organized by
the Gambian Youths Organization
or the Mayor’s Fund to Advance
New York City.
Reach Jason Cohen at jcohen@
schnepsmedia.com or (718)
260-4598. For more coverage, follow
us on Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram @bronxtimes.
FDNY fi refi ghters were commended for their acts of heroism in combating the deadly Fordham Heights fi re at
a Community Board 5 meeting on Monday night. Photo | Adrian Childress
nations from other collection
sites are being transferred
there. At the center, various
city agencies have been offering
services to the impacted
residents, such as housing,
mental health, identifi cation,
burial and food assistance.
Social media was buzzing
on Monday with local groups
organizing their own collections
sites for the families. Feliz
said his offi ce has been coordinating
with organizations
to make sure the donations get
into the hands of the victims as
soon as possible.
The Bronx Woodlawn Collective
estimated volunteers
collected between 200 and 300
garbage bags of donations in
just a few hours. The Riverdale
Jewish Center received about
200 bags of clothes, supplies
and food in 24 hours. Bronx
Community Board 10 collected
more than a dozen large garbage
bags of clothes.
The Anthony Avenue Garden,
NYC Department of Education
Bronx Borough Offi ce,
Ink Gentz Tattoo Gallery, Take
Back the Bronx, SAR Academy
and Westchester County’s Pelham
Picture House also hosted
collected sites.
United States Postal Service
workers whose routes
included deliveries to Twin
Parks North West for years
used a postal truck to transfer
donations from mutual aid
groups to Mosque Masjid-Ur-
Rahmah — which people displaced
from the fi re are members
of — where donations
were stored.
Chocobar Cortés is donating
the proceeds from hot
chocolate sales this week to the
Mayor’s Fund and expects to
sell 500-600 hot chocolates that
range in price from $4.50-$7.25.
Sheikh Musa Drammeh
from the Muslim Media Corporation
told the Bronx Times
that organizers will ensure all
funds raised across entities
will reach the victims.
Yadhira González-Taylor,
an attorney from the Bronx,
is organizing lawyers, law students
and paralegals who can
help provide pro-bono legal
services for the families affected
by the fi re.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres,
Bronx Borough President Vanessa
Gibson, Feliz and Sanchez
teamed up to create a task
force Monday that will ensure
the families impacted by the
blaze are getting the support
they need and embark on a
mission to prevent future tragedies
from a policy standpoint,
from looking at space-heater
manufacturing guidelines to
fi nes for doors not self-closing.
“Everything, at every level
of government, will be on the
table for discussion,” Sanchez
said.
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