Woodside Deathtrap Fueled By Oversight, Error &
Greed
Queens Courier
11/11/09
A
Department of Buildings (DOB) vacate order stands at
42-40 65th Street in Woodside, but it seems like
“too little too late.”
The ingredients for disaster were all in place on
Saturday, November 7 – a seeming lack of oversight,
human error and basic greed – and now three men are
dead following an early-morning blaze inside the
two-story Woodside home which had been turned into a
five-family dwelling with an additional seven rooms.
“It’s very sad, people lost their lives,” said a
neighbor. “People shouldn’t have been in the
basement, it’s illegal, and it’s a fire trap.”
The 2:45 a.m. blaze
claimed the lives of three Bangladeshi immigrants –
Sd Jahan, 31; Abdul Kuddus, 24; and
Biswajzit Das,
25 – when their means of egress from the basement
was reportedly blocked by construction materials.
The home’s owner, Subir Barua, 48, suffered severe
burns and was in critical condition. Two other men
were also burned.
And firefighters responding to the scene were
delayed when a 9-1-1 dispatcher mistakenly entered
the wrong address, meaning they went to the wrong
home.
Under the new system, which has come under fire by
the Uniformed Firefighters’ Association (UFA),
responding units are sent out immediately by 9-1-1
dispatchers.
“The 9-1-1 dispatcher’s main priority is speed,”
said Leroy McGinnis, Queens Trustee for the UFA.
“Unfortunately in their haste in sending companies
out, [sometimes it is] without the right
information, even the address.”
Saying that “This is the first [case] that has led
directly to fatality,” McGinnis told The Courier
that Engine 292 would have only had to cross Queens
Boulevard and go up 65th Street – meaning a
two-and-a-half minute response time – but instead,
they went west three blocks and had to be
redirected. Their response time, he said, was just
under five minutes.
“We’re not saying that, had our units arrived
[faster] we could have saved lives, but we didn’t
get the chance,” he said. “The UFA and UFOA
[Uniformed Fire Officers Association] are looking at
the political aspect to rally local city
councilmembers to investigate and look into the
entire system.”An FDNY spokesperson said only that
the fire was still under investigation.
On Sunday evening, November 8, an officer from the
108th Precinct stood outside the residence – and
42-38, which also has a vacate order – to ensure
that no one entered either premise.
Since the tragedy, the DOB issued three violations –
for work without a permit, for illegal occupancy and
for no secondary means of egress.
Tony Sclafani, DOB spokesperson, explained that in
1990 and 2004, the agency received two separate
complaints for illegal conversions at the site.
Both times, he said, “Inspectors found no evidence,”
and there had been no further complaints.
However, following the blaze, it was discovered that
the top floor had been subdivided into two units –
one with one bedroom, a second with two – and that
the basement had four bedrooms.
Additionally, reports claim that there were not
enough smoke detectors, and those in place were
non-functional.
“Once again, New York's lack of affordable housing
has led to tragedy with families forced to cram
themselves into dangerous illegal conversions and
building owners willing to compromise safety for
profit,” said City Councilmember Eric Gioia.
“Illegal conversions are dangerous not only for
tenants, but for firefighters who must fight blazes
in buildings with unexpected barriers. To prevent
tragedies like this from happening again,
identifying illegal conversions and holding
landlords accountable needs to be a priority for the
city.”
“I think it’s greedy landlords,” said a neighbor.
