Fighting a tenement
blaze on a freezing January day now called Black
Sunday, two firemen were killed and four were forced
to jump out the window in a tragedy everybody thinks
could have been prevented. Two years later, the
survivors talk for the first time about what
happened in that building and why the rage and guilt
they feel have only gotten worse>>>
Gene Stolowski outside
his home in Florida, New York.
The
Bronx jury that convicted the owner
and manager of the deathtrap that
stole the lives of Meyran and Bellew
showed clear common sense. The proof
was overwhelming. Guilty verdicts
were a foregone conclusion>>>
Coste and Castillo were motivated by
greed. They hoped to make a few
bucks on illicit sublets. They built
divider walls that turned the
apartment into a dangerous warren.
They ignored instructions to tear
them down>>>
They were separate juries
considering the fates of separate
defendants, but for weeks they sat
side by side in a Bronx courtroom
hearing much of the same evidence.
Still, the juries returned verdicts
that indicated anything but a common
opinion of the proceeding they had
witnessed>>>
The Lower
Manhattan
Development
Corp. said
yesterday
the
condemned
former
Deutsche
Bank
building
will be gone
by this
fall, and
released
plans for
taking it
down>>>
Being a New York City
firefighter continues to be one
of the most dangerous jobs in
America. Long before 9/11, Mount
Sinai School of Medicine
researchers found that NYC
firefighters have a greater
incidence of cancer than any
other profession, due to regular
exposure to smoke and toxins>>>
Supervising Fire Marshal Sal Rignola
and Fire Marshals Brian Kane and
John Watkins connected him to a fire
on Feb. 2 in a brownstone on W. 69th
Street, which was reported at 4:52
a.m.>>>