Photo via Gale Brewer.
A fire on Friday at 120 West 91st Street started after someone tossed a lit cigarette down a garbage chute, according to Borough President Gale Brewer, who lives nearby. The building between Columbus and Amsterdam is part of the Wise Towers.
“Congrats 2 FDNY. I saw almost 100 fire fighters & EMS. Army of trucks. Much appreciated,” she wrote on Twitter.
No one was reported injured, according to Brewer; a tenant association leader helped convince one person to get to safety to avoid smoke inhalation.
For a change I was glad to be wearing a mask due to the fumes of this fire! I took my dog Tallulah A Bassett Hound for a walk as the smoke poured into the air -and I was on west 88th and Amsterdam. Much gratitude to FDNY and to the person convinced to get to safety! NY is resilient as always!
Aren’t garbage chutes illegal in residential building in NYC?
No. You must be thinking of incinerators. Garbage chutes just allow us to deposit trash in high-rise buildings and not require us to take the elevator or stairs down to a central garbage collecting location each time we empty our refuse. The chutes help maintenance workers amass the garbage to be put out for collection. Certainly lit cigarettes should never but deposited in one of these.
I agree with BP Brewer the it seemed like a quick and useful response by the Fire Department. I spotted the heavy smoke early (I live on a high floor and have windows that look West) and grabbed my telephone to call it in, but before I could do so I could already hear the fire truck (followed by more) coming down Columbus Avenue.
Now I know what happened! From the high floor in my building I took pictures of the gleaming,flashing firetrucks lining Columbus Ave from 91st street to at least 90th street .. perhaps further. Oddly enough, we did not smell smoke and wondered why they were all there.