Pierina Sanchez raises Bronx fire crisis and interagency coordination

Thank you.

Thank you, cousin.

It won't get old, maybe in a couple years.

But thank you, Chair, for the unrelenting questions on the fifth firefighter.

I have to join Chief.

I have to join Commissioner.

But before I do that, I just want to echo my colleagues in thanking the FDNY, the firefighters who jump at the flames, who are there.

I feel like I live right next to a battalion, and I feel like the sirens are just nonstop, nonstop.

So I thank you to our firefighters.

I thank you to our EMS.

But it does feel like the Bronx is burning.

It feels like the Bronx is burning again.

And I...

I uplift the 50 New Yorkers who we've had, almost 50 New Yorkers who we've already lost this year, and highlighting, Chief, and I'd love some clarity

here during this hearing, that in a private briefing with the Bronx delegation some weeks ago, you shared that the fires have nearly doubled over

for the last three years in the Bronx and Queens for the time period that we were in.

So I'd love to just get updated numbers on that.

And then specifically, just wanna, and I should highlight for you, I'm gonna do the thing where I ask all my questions and then hopefully leave you five seconds to respond.

But I just wanna make sure to get them all in and I'm sure you'll be able to capture them.

We had a fatal fire at 226 West Tremont last weekend.

A one-year-old passed away on Bainbridge Avenue, on the block where I grew up.

And so it really feels in the Bronx, and it feels like in my neighborhood, that it's just relentless.

It's just relentless.

In my view, I want to complicate our conversation also on the fifth firefighter.

My view is that we need a three-pronged approach.

We need to first make sure, yes, that our first responders have the resources for the fastest response, put out the fires as fast as possible.

We have to address things like the blocked fire hydrants that you keep raising with us in conversations.

But second, we need to also expand.

Public education immediately, right?

The things that you raised during the press conferences, the doors that weren't closed behind, we need to make sure we're highlighting that and reaching the audiences in the Bronx, in Queens, in the neighborhoods that are really impacted.

But third, and this is where I am the chair of the housing committee on the council, we have to make sure we're having a conversation that also puts the onus on the owners of these old properties to address the failing systems leading to the

these fires.

At 226 West Tremont, it's an old building.

That owner is the fourth worst in the city of New York.

And in the last year, the building had 13 violations for defective and missing smoke detectors, which means that the residents were calling it in.

And in the last two weeks, there were violations for self-closing doors.

So the second question, the first question was about data.

The second question is about the interagency coordination.

How is FDNY sharing

everything in real time that you're seeing about fires and causes, how are you talking about that with the Department of Buildings, with HPD, and crafting new policies and new interventions to address the root causes?

And finally, you know, as we talk about the infrastructure in these buildings, I just want to make sure that

That is also a part of the conversation.

And I think I mentioned this to you, Commissioner and Chief, in some of the Zooms we had.

When FDNY has all the press in front of you, because there's been a fatal fire and there's been a tragedy,

just making sure that the agency does not then only talk about the self-closing doors and the smoke detectors, the interventions that the tenants are responsible for, because that feels like blaming the victims.

It feels like you're blaming...

By only focusing on those causes, it feels like a blame on our people in the Bronx.

And I want to make sure that, one, we are doing, right?

We are HPD, DOB, FDNY are collaborating on solutions, but we're also

talking about what owners can do.

So one, data.

Two, now I am forgetting what my second question was, but I'm sure you captured it and I'll bring it back around if you didn't.