Fire Officials Speak Out Against

Illegally Subdivided Housing

NY1 News 3/27/09

Community groups and fire officials spoke out against an illegal building practice at Bronx Community College Friday.

Members of the city fire department met with the State Senate Committee on Housing to put an end to the widespread practice of subdividing apartments and private homes with drywall. The department says this type of construction is dangerous.

"We can say with absolute certainty that illegal partition walls create extremely dangerous conditions for our firefighters and occupants of the building in which these partitions are constructed," said Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention Thomas Jenson.

The city buildings commissioner said the housing department responded to complaints filed for illegal construction at more than 15,000 apartments last year.

Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. said the need for affordable housing is partly to blame for the construction of these walls.

The hearing comes nearly four years after two firefighters jumped from the fourth floor of a Bronx building. A jury last month found the landlord of the building responsible for the firemen's deaths.