“My
heart goes out to the East Harlem families victimized by this tragedy,
who have lost loved ones and are suddenly without a home.
Our community
must give the displaced tenants and surrounding neighbors the necessary
resources to recover from these horrific events, and my office will be
working to ensure their needs are met.
I am troubled
by the apparent record of neglect in the building where the fire began,
including multiple active fire safety violations, and evidence of
structural integrity problems dating back several years. These issues
suggest that there was the potential for even greater loss. My office
will be closely scrutinizing the information available to determine what
failings allowed this to occur and what can be done to prevent this
from happening again."
Editor's Note:
At a press conference in the afternoon it was announced that the cause of the explosion that occurred at 9:30 AM was a gas leak that was reported to Con Edison at 9:12 AM. Con Edison arrived on the scene after the explosion.
