Grand Street Fire: Questions from One Building Resident
In response to our last update on the demolition of 283 Grand Street, one former resident of the building left a comment worth sharing. The fire victim lived there for more than two decades, as did many others.
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It reads:
It’s so sad to see the building being torn down. I’ve lived there for over 20 years. Most of us lived there for more than 20 to 30 years. This was our home. There’s so much that happened during this fire. From the landlord, to the fire dept, to the demolition dept. What happened to the smoke detectors? I didn’t know of the smoke until the fire trucks came to the block. How did a residential building like this could go up to alarm 7? There was smoke for an hour before the flames started. However, most of the residents were not evacuated until 11:20 when the flames burst up. What happened to Sing Ho who was stuck in his apt for an hour? The building has 15 units and 3 units on each floor. They had more than enough time to search each unit and Mr. Ho would have lived. Why were there residents still stuck in the top floors for an hour? Why did they have to ask the firemen to let them get out? Why did everything else vanished while I got back photos in great conditions? How was it that paper photos survived the fire and not a steel case? Why was jewelry and cash not recovered, while they were in the [same] drawer as the IDs and photos? The photos and the IDs were recovered. There are just too many questions and we are not getting answers.
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