QUESTION
What caused the Harlem fire to escalate, and was a defective door involved?
1:41:34
·
4 min
Kevin Woods provides details about a tragic fire in Harlem, emphasizing the challenge of rescuing trapped residents and the crucial role of a door left open.
- The fire originated on the third floor of a common New York City building, and smoke spread rapidly due to an open apartment door.
- Lithium ion batteries are believed to have started the fire, resulting in intense conditions that hindered rescue operations.
- Firefighters employed life-saving tactics, such as roof rescues, stressed during their training to save trapped residents.
- The importance of keeping doors closed during a fire to prevent the spread of toxic gases and smoke is highlighted.
- Specific information on the functionality of the door and other potential nonworking self-closing doors is still under investigation.
Oswald Feliz
1:41:34
Last week, we had another tragedy in Harlem, a fire that quickly escalated, 17 people injured in that fire.
1:41:42
So just wondering, besides the fire, what went wrong?
1:41:46
What allowed the smoke to spread throughout the building?
1:41:48
And that fire to affect seventeen people in that building.
1:41:52
And also I'm hearing that there was a door that was left open.
Kevin Woods
1:41:56
That's correct.
Oswald Feliz
1:41:56
If yes was the door the the self closing door defective, or does somebody put something to stop it from closing?
Kevin Woods
1:42:04
Okay.
1:42:04
So the fire was in a six story multiple dwelling that kind of dwelling break with fire escapes that I explained before, a very common building to New York City.
1:42:12
The fire started on the 3rd floor.
1:42:14
The apartment door was open.
1:42:17
We believe the fire the fire started by Lithium Ion.
1:42:22
There were blowtorch conditions into the hallway.
1:42:26
People were trapped on the upper floors.
1:42:29
So the first way we get people out of a building is via the interior stairs.
1:42:34
So our truck companies move in on the fire floor.
1:42:38
2nd truck company goes to floor.
1:42:40
We have members on the floors above.
1:42:41
We go above that fire.
1:42:43
We couldn't get above the fire from the interior.
1:42:45
So after the interior stairs, We tried to get them out via the fire escapes and ladders.
1:42:50
It was the back of the side of the building.
1:42:52
We couldn't access to that floor with ladders.
1:42:54
Right?
1:42:55
With portable ladders anyway or our aerial ladders.
1:42:58
They will block door from the fire escape.
1:43:00
That's how much smoke was up there.
1:43:01
They couldn't get to the fire escape window, so they're hanging out of the window.
1:43:04
We use that that's called the lifesaving group rescue evolution.
1:43:08
We use that evolution probably once a year, maybe sometimes twice a year, there were 3 done at this particular fire by 3 different people, by 3 It's a one person evolution going down the road, but it's a fully team effort on that roof of that building.
1:43:25
It's another reason we familiarize ourselves with these buildings during our inspections.
1:43:29
To look to these tie off points.
1:43:31
So we are trained on this from the minute we go into the fire academy, and we drill on this constantly.
1:43:38
It's for the life safety of the residents.
1:43:41
And it's a very unfortunate that one person died, but there could have been more.
1:43:45
And I'm extremely proud to say, a part of the FDNY and what happened last week.
1:43:52
They did a phenomenal phenomenal job, but that they couldn't get above the stairs.
1:43:57
It was a flyer where our you know, we we save those people to do our training.
Oswald Feliz
1:44:04
Right.
1:44:04
Yeah.
1:44:04
And we also those videos just wanna thank you and and your entire team for, you know, putting your lie life at risk to, you know, save people that you don't know, you've never met.
1:44:14
But just wondering, what allowed that door to stay open?
1:44:17
Was it the fact that it was in property self closing, or did somebody put something to stop a from closing.
Kevin Woods
1:44:24
I don't have that information with me right now.
1:44:27
Oh, but by having that door open resulted in the people upstairs being trapped.
1:44:34
The the residents and the occupants above that fire are being trapped.
1:44:38
We try to emphasize, even with our fire safety education, we constantly emphasize, close that door behind you.
1:44:44
If there's a fire in your apartment, close that door behind.
1:44:48
And as you could see was similar to Twin Parks.
1:44:52
Right?
1:44:52
When we arrived at Twin Parks, we arrived there in 3 minutes.
1:44:56
The apartment door was open.
1:44:58
The apartment across the way where there were multiple fatalities was open.
1:45:03
Both stairwell doors were open.
Oswald Feliz
1:45:06
Right.
Kevin Woods
1:45:06
Right?
1:45:06
The doors were open.
1:45:08
And that creates what we call a flow path.
1:45:11
During in a fire situation, it's high pressure.
1:45:14
Right?
1:45:14
Fire builds, it creates pressure.
1:45:16
When you open up a door, it goes to a low pressure area.
1:45:20
Right?
1:45:20
So by having that flow path, it's a fluid, the toxic gases, the smoke in the fire, ran down that hallway, and those smoking gases went up the stairs.
1:45:32
Then there were multiple stairwell doors that were open on other floors as well.
Oswald Feliz
1:45:38
Okay.
1:45:38
And I guess in the case of the Harlem fire, We're talking about the front entrance door, not self closing.
1:45:45
Right?
1:45:45
That's what allowed the fire to exit.
1:45:49
So but were there other nonworking self closing doors, for example, in the common areas that allowed fire to go into the stairwells and the tetra
Kevin Woods
1:45:56
In the Harlem fire?
1:45:58
Yeah.
1:45:58
Yeah.
1:45:58
I'm not familiar with that.
1:45:59
Don't have that information with me today.
1:46:01
It's still under investigation.
1:46:02
Yeah.
1:46:02
It's still under investigation.
1:46:04
It's a it's a brand new fire.
Oswald Feliz
1:46:05
Yep.
1:46:06
Thanks.
1:46:06
Okay.
1:46:07
Cool.
1:46:07
Thank you for the information on that.
1:46:09
A few questions to HPD.
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What are the cost implications of the proposed smoke damper legislation and why are malfunctioning smoke dampers not considered a major problem?
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How many reinspections were conducted after the Twin Parks fire legislation, and how long does it take to fix self-closing doors?
