New Square, NY - State of NY Concerned Over Illegal Conversion Of Houses, Can Pose Fire Risks

Commentary in The Journal News

New Square, NY - The New York State is concerned that houses are so close together, with so many questionable additions and appendages, that a fire under the wrong conditions could sweep through an entire block — or worse — an entire neighborhood.

There are frequent examples where safety and compliance with the law are an afterthought.

Like the operation of a preschool in a trailer at the construction site of a yeshiva on Grandview Avenue in Ramapo. The town has already issued a citation for operating the program without a site plan or certificate of occupancy. The state is investigating whether the facility has the required child-care license.

Then there's the case of a child falling through a hole during a party at a synagogue under construction in Monsey. There were 300 people there for a wedding ceremony even though the building didn't have a certificate of occupancy.

Or the night in 2003 when former Hillburn Mayor James Brown found 350 people associated with a religious study center operated in a former motel in the village holding a party in the mostly vacant Titan Trucking Co. building across the road. A temporary certificate of occupancy, which permitted only storage, had expired, according to village officials who feared a high death toll in the event of a fire.

Over the past 30 years or so, there are countless such episodes of oversight, ignorance of the law or failure to enforce safety codes where loss of life could have been quick and great.

In the Bronx, in the aftermath of a fatal apartment fire, prosecutors last week charged three people with two counts each of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment for making the illegal changes.