New Square, NY - Struggles To Fix Old Buildings That Pose Fire Risk

New Square, NY - A partial state survey estimated that more than 80 buildings failed to meet state fire and safety codes in the village of New Square, NY.
The village did not adopt the state codes - which are mandatory for all municipalities - until last year, and only after the New York state intervened and began inspecting and pressuring the village, the state's fastest growing community.

But the past remains, with older housing and apartments packed together, creating concerns for firefighters. Fire officials say building congestion prevents trucks and volunteers from getting to homes where numerous families live, and in many cases, with unmarked commercial businesses inside.

"It's a death trap," said Rockland Fire and Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr., a Hillcrest firefighter. "The houses are so close together, one fire could easily spread. You think you are going into a one-family house, you don't expect to find a commercial business.

"And the problems remain in more than a hundred buildings and for the thousands of people living in those conditions." For example, a large boys yeshiva at the rear of the village, next to the community's cemetery, has one entrance and exit, it has no fire lane, and the narrow, unpaved pathway that goes around the building would be unnavigable for a firetruck.
And a girls school that was being added onto. Construction trailers blocked any entrance for firetrucks. "How are you going to get in there? You got kids trapped in there," he said. "People are going to die."