APARTMENT FIRES IN NEW YORK- CAUSES AND PREVENTION
Apartment fires have recently became more prevalent in New York and the devastating effects have led to many people losing their lives. The recent Bronx Fire incident shocked the entire state of New York. The deadly fire incident took the lives of 17 innocent people. It is therefore very important that property owners/landlords must guard against these tragedies and ensure that all prevention steps and potential causes of fires should be guarded against. Please review our blog post that goes into depth about fire injuries.
Cooking Fires
It is one of the prominent causes of fires accumulating around 50 percent of the total fires occurring in houses. While sometimes the injured person may be the cause of the fire, many times it’s the landlord/property owner’s fault for providing defective stoves, ovens etc. or letting other tenants use illegal cooking instruments, i.e., hot plates.
Heaters
Space heaters are the second most common source of house fires. As per the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission heaters cause 800 residential fires in a year and out of which 300 are very dangerous. The areas which are more prone to cold waves are more likely to experience fire in their houses caused by these heaters. This is majorly because the frequency of using heaters in winters and colder places are more than other ones.
Malfunction in the electric appliances
Some of the most common causes of fires in New York is that of malfunction in Electrical appliances. Landlords/Property Owners will say that electrical malfunction is not under our control but there it is clearly and unequivocal their responsible to keep the electric in safe working order. In 2016 around 6 percent of the total fires in the United states and dominantly in New York took place because of any malfunction in electrical appliances.
Fires caused by Arson
Most of the people who die in fires may be through deliberate fires caused by Arson. It was only reported by FEMA that most of Arson related fires were intentional and were considerably large with serious effects. In simple language Arson means any fire caused by any person who had the intent to cause harm by that fire. A difficulty that can arise from this is that sometimes it is very difficult to determine the cause of the actual fire as the fire takes place at a huge level and sometimes it can be because of human error but sometimes it can be an intentional fire.
Common Appliances in home
Appliances are a big part of most people who go by their daily lives. But if proper precautions are not taken then it can be hazardous. According to FEMA Appliances amount to 4 percent of the total fires caused by appliances. Landlords/Property Owners must provide safe appliances.
Preventive steps to avoid fires
Some of the important steps are mentioned here which can help you avoid major accident. Precaution is better than cure and thus it is advised to be prepared in case of any emergency that might arise.
Having Reliable Protection
Having a reliable smoking and carbon monoxide alarm system is very important. Alarms should be installed throughout the home. It is the Landlords/Property Owners responsibility to provide working smoke alarms.
Keep a safe passage
In case fire has occurred, it is very important to have a safe passage so that easy evacuation can be done.
Other Fire prevention tips
Although there are many preventive steps that one can follow but here are some of the tips that one might want to take a look in order to avoid major fire incident
- Using surge protectors so that household appliances are in safe place.
- Circuits in overloaded condition are very harmful and thus must be avoided.
- Avoid using any cords that are not in good condition or that are cracked.
- Do not leave portable space heaters unattended.
- Children are quite inquisitive and thus it is very important to keep them away from lighter and matches.
- Candles can be the major source of fire and thus they should never be left unattended.
- Do not leave kitchen area when cooking.
BRONX Fire Accident
Recently the New York State experienced one of the biggest apartment fire incidents where unfortunately 17 people lost their lives. Dozens of people were left injured and without their homes. It was also reported that the majority of the deaths may have occurred because of smoke inhalation. This incident was one of the deadliest Apartment fires in history of New York State. Since the tragedy at Happy Land nightclub in Bronx which killed 87 people. That incident occurred in 1990. This incident reinforces that Apartment fires in New York states are a great concern and thus one should take all the precautionary steps in order to avoid this type of attack.
Contact An Accident Lawyer If You Or A Loved One Was Injured Due To A Fire.
The best course of action in these types of situations is to contact a lawyer immediately as there may be a short time frame to sue if the property was owned by the City of New York. In those instances, you may have as little as 90 days to file a ‘Notice Of Claim’ enabling one to sue. An experienced lawyer will know this and help secure your rights.
