Wednesday, January 5, 2011

13 fires in the East Village since May 2010

After hearing about the two fires yesterday in the neighborhood, many people remarked — seems as if there have been a lot of fires here of late.

Indeed, I've covered 13 since May. (I included the manhole explosion on First Avenue... though not the car that caught on fire on East Fourth Street in September.)

Thankfully, in each of these fires, there weren't any serious injuries... and as far as what has been reported, none of the fires have been deemed suspicious by authorities....

Jan. 4, East Sixth Street near Avenue A


[Photo by EV Grieve reader Jamie]

Jan. 4, Second Avenue at East Fourth Street


[Photo by Special Monkey]

Dec. 22, First Avenue near Third Street



Nov. 29, East 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue



Nov. 14, NYU's Barney Building on East Ninth Street



Nov. 13, St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue



Nov. 11, Ageloff Towers, Avenue A and East Fourth Street...


[Photo by Cluglife]

Oct. 26, First Avenue at East Ninth Street


[By EV Grieve reader Jason]

Oct. 24, Otto's Shrunken Head, East 14th Street



July 8, 240 East Houston at Avenue A



July 12, 628 Broadway between East Houston and Bleecker Street


[Photo via Twitpic]

June 8, Second Avenue near Seventh Street


[Via Fairfax Wright]

May 12, East 14th Street at Avenue A


[Photo via Sergey]

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had to call the FDNY recently because something was up with the boiler at 504 East 12th Street, and I mentioned to one of the guys that there were a lot of fires lately. He was telling me it's nothing compared to the 80s when they were out on calls practically every day. Lots of arson back then!

Laura Goggin Photography said...

In the summer of 2005, there were three separate fires on my building block that totally gutted a restaurant, store and a few apartments. In the latter, the other tenants had to move out (temporarily). Does anyone know what happens to people when they are displaced like that? I usually hear of the Red Cross putting people up in hotels, but what if they're homeless for several weeks or months? Fire has got to be my worst fear while living in the city.

Stedman said...

Thanks for compiling this because I was wondering how many fires there have been. To me it seems like an extraordinary amount.

I've been complaining to my building mgmt for two months that we don't have any functioning smoke detectors in the hallways. All the batteries are dead. I get no response from building mgmt or the super (who doesn't live in the building) about it. I'm not sure what to do. I'd buy the batteries myself and install them, but the detectors are higher than I can reach--and I can't go out and buy a ladder.

Calling 311 will simply generate a warning letter that building mgmt will ignore just like they've ignored me. Is there some higher authority (maybe FDNY) that I can report the issue to who can influence action?

Lisa said...

@Stedman - Yes, contact your local ladder company about this issue; maybe even go by in person. They take stuff like this very seriously. Also, if anyone has a fire extinguisher in their apartment that needs recharging, the FDNY used to do it for free, assuming they still do. Again, just bring it to them.

Anonymous said...

If you suspect a fire at all, please call 911 right away. In the case of 504 (mentioned above), it was steam billowing from the basement, and while I was pretty certain it wasn't a fire, I had a feeling something was up with the boiler, so I called, and the FDNY said it was a smart move because it could have developed into something more. I am really surprised no one from the building called. One tenant was coming out of 504 when the FDNY was here and didn't seem too concerned with helping anyone track down the super. Guess she didn't care about her building having heat!

Stedman said...

@Lisa: Thanks! I walk by the fire house every day on my way to work. I'll stop and talk to someone there.

@Anon 1:54: I am astounded by the lack of concern some people have for the place in which they live. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person in my building who has complained about the non-functioning smoke detectors. I guess everyone else wants to die in a fire??

Anonymous said...

To Stedman: I was surprised that this lady could have obviously cared less about her building not having heat or potentially burning down. There are those people who just don't want to get involved. It's too bad. I was out there trying to help, and I don't even live in her building.

Lisa said...

@Stedman - You bet!