For some New Yorkers, the fire that erupted in a Bronx apartment building evoked the 70s, when wide swaths of the borough burned. While buildings now have stricter codes, some things haven't changed—namely the connection between poverty and fatal fires.
In the 1970s, wide swaths of the Bronx were destroyed by fires: in 44 of the borough’s 289 census tracts , more than 50% of the buildings were lost between 1970 and 1980,, author of “‘The Fires: How a Computer Formula, Big Ideas, and the Best of Intentions Burned Down New York City – and Determined the Future of Cities.” In seven tracts, 97% of the buildings burned down.
While the number of fire-related deaths in New York has remained below 100 for each of the last 16 years, FDNY officials noted there were years during the 1970s that as many as 300 New Yorkers died from fires. Much has changed since the 1970s: Buildings now have stricter codes, and require smoke alarms, which the National Fire Prevention Association“the biggest single factor” in the nearly 50% decline in fire-related deaths nationally since 1980.
Although there is recourse for tenants in these situations, Rasmussen said the option of going to court creates a financial burden or requires a time commitment that is more difficult for people in working-class jobs.Tenants who are undocumented often have to suffer through cold weather because they’re scared of retaliation from landlords, said Diya Basu-Sen, the executive director of SapnaNYC, an organization that represents working-class South Asian immigrants.
Right now, the city is paying close attention to what happened in the Bronx, the scene of yet another fatal fire Tuesday. At least one person was killed when a home on Fox Street in the Longwood section exploded in flames.
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