Yonkers General alarm fire 1 Garrett Place
03/12/19 – A plumber soldering pipes in a sixth floor bathroom touched off a fire which burned unnoticed for an undetermined amount of time. The fire is believed to have spread via a pipe chase and into the cockloft before being noticed and reported. It then spread rapidly throughout the cockloft of this block-long, occupied, multiple dwelling. Firefighters were outmatched as the fire had a head start on them. They were soon called off the roof and out of the building as conditions rapidly deteriorated. Multiple alarms were rapidly transmitted to bring all of Yonker’s firefighting force to the scene. Additional companies were brought in from surrounding towns throughout lower Westchester County to help fight the blaze. The fire burned across the entire complex before dropping down into apartments throughout the building. Multiple ladders, master streams, and hand lines from surrounding rooftops were deployed. The fire burned for close to twelve hours before being declared under control at five a.m the next morning. Hundreds of civilians were displaced and several firefighters sustained minor injuries.
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I lived in the Garrett Place building for decades and lost everything of importance to me. In the second photo, you can clearly see the blue tarps and black netting that the owner put up years before to prevent building materials from falling to the sidewalk and lawns in lieu of just pointing and brickwork repair that needed to be done. The tarps were held in by 2×4’s with nails which we realized because in other front locations they fell off onto the lawn with 8 inch nails sticking out. That happenstance didn’t deter them from just putting it back or leaving it off. Negligence all around including unlicensed contractors doing interior hot work without permits inside of interior apartment walls.
Beware of landlords that have no pride or care for their buildings and move before it’s too late.