On Saturday April 7, a fire in a Trump Tower 50th floor apartment broke out, unfortunately resulting in a fatality. The New York Post reported that firefighters were alerted to the presence of the fire by a smoke detector inside building duct work. FDNY officials have found no evidence of a smoke detector in the Trump Tower apartment.
According to the Department of Housing and Preservation rules, building owners are required to install smoke detectors in units, but occupants are responsible for maintaining them. Todd Brassner, the 67-year-old resident that died of smoke inhalation, had bought the unit in 1996. He had fallen on hard times recently, and friends told local media that he had been trying to move out of the apartment. Mr. Brassner, an art dealer, went through bankruptcy proceedings in 2015.
Craig Ruttle/AP
“He was a lovely man. He couldn’t have been nicer… He was soft spoken but strong willed and opinionated when he was talking about art. He knew his stuff and he wanted you to know it too. He was very pleasant to be with,” said Dolly Lenz, the real-estate broker sold Brassner the apartment.
City Councilman Robert Cornegy Jr. announced that he was drafting a bill to require that fire sprinklers be installed in older buildings, such as Trump Tower, that are currently exempt from a 1999 law requiring newer buildings to have them.
NBC News
“We have hundreds of thousands of units in New York City that fall outside of the law, and I think it’s time we bring the law up to date to protect New York citizens,” he said from the steps of City Hall.
Let’s hope we can get those buildings up to code so that nothing like this happens again.