After being fired for speaking to a reporter, a lawyer who had represented a slain firefighter's family in their lawsuit against the city is now suing the widow and her children. Way to keep those bad stereotypes about lawyers going! After the summer's deadly Deutsche Bank fire, where firefighters Robert Beddia, 56, and Joseph Graffagnino, 34, died, their families indicated they would sue for up to $180 million. Which would be a payday for any......

After two fires with fatalities and one with a firefighter injury, the Uniformed Firefighters Association and City Councilman Leroy Comrie expressed outrage over the FDNY's response to Queens fires. They say the new pilot dispatch program is endangering lives. UFA head Steve Cassidy says the fire response time in Queens is 5 minutes, which is the slowest in the city. Plus, the new policy gives too few details - mainly the address, not details like......

Yesterday, a two-alarm fire broke out in a Corona home and after firefighters put it out, they found the body of 5-year-old Jason Guallpa, curled up behind a TV. The police later arrested his 24-year-old brother Diego with endangering the welfare of a child. Diego Guallpa was supposed to be baby-sitting his younger brother, but he decided to meet his accountant and file his tax returns. He left little Jason in the home alone (a......

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $464,600 in fines over two contractors' safety lapses at the Deutsche Bank building. Contractor Bovis Lend Lease, which had been retained by the state government, and its former subcontractor John Galt Corporation had been dismantling the building when a seven-alarm fire, caused by a worker's smoking, broke out last August. Two firefighters died during the blaze, it was revealed pieces of the standpipe (which lets water for firefighters......

Crazy! Gowanus Lounge posted this video of a car on fire in the Greenwood Heights section of Brooklyn. The video shows the FDNY extinguishing the fire, and GL followed up with an eyewitness account from Greenwood Heights resident Aaron Brashear (who's also in the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights). Brashear said when he looked outside, some teenage girls were yelling, "*Oh, sh*t, that's our car*!" He added that another "long time resident swore it......

Yesterday morning, a fire broke out in Fort Greene apartment, where seven family members lived. The NY Post reports three relatives - a father and his two sons - were saved by a "Brooklyn vagrant on a breakfast beer run." Dubbed "SUPERTRAMP" in the headline, Andre Nash had just bought two cans of beer when a boy was asking for help and pointing to the the 11th floor of a building at the Lafayette Gardens......

The sister of the 23-year FDNY veteran who died during the Deutsche Bank building last August is suing city agencies and contractors, citing their "wanton, willful, and reckless conduct" in his death. The Deutsche Bank building had been undergoing a slow dismantling process, and a worker's cigarette likely started the 7-alarm fire. Robert Beddia, 53, (pictured) and Joseph Graffagnino, 34, died on the 14th floor, when they ran out of oxygen (the FDNY tapes are......

After last night's two-alarm fire, most of Hunts Point Market was open for business. However, the offices of Master Purveyors and Desola Provisions were destroyed; Desola's Bill Beskin told NY1 aside from the offices being "completely burned out, "The coolers, all the meat, everything is, we're fine." Still, inspectors are making sure the meat is still okay (Desola supplies to the Stage Deli, Master to Peter Luger's). Over 100 firefighters battled the blaze, and three......

This evening, there was a two-alarm fire at the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx. Hunts Point Cooperative Market, the "Largest Food Distribution Center in the World," is where many meat and meat products are processed and distributed in the tri-state area. Over 100 firefighters were on the scene to fight the fire and the main fire has been extinguished. No injuries have been reported yet and the Fire Department does not know the......

Some troubling news about yesterday's three-alarm fire at 200 East 72nd Street which left 19 firefighters and 14 resident injured. Apparently the fire alarm system had been undergoing repairs (there were complaints about "multiple false alarms" according to the Sun), which led to chaos. The building is "fireproof," and the FDNY says residents should have just stayed in their apartment, but many tried to leave the building. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer issued a following......

Earlier this morning, a fire started on the ground floor of an apartment building on East 72nd Street and Third Avenue, causing all 34 floor to be evacuated. Two firefighters were seriously hurt, while four others and thirteen civilians suffered minor injuries. The fire was seen in a newsstand and stationery store, according to WNBC. Rusty Pacheco of Grace's Marketplace, located next door, said, "The moment we heard the alarm next door and we saw......

Yesterday, separate fires in Harlem and in the Bronx each claimed a life. The fire in the Bronx occurred at 1317 West Farms Road around 11AM. An elderly man was found in his living room apartment; three other residents treated at a hospital. The FDNY believes the fire was accidental. Around 6AM, the Harlem fire on West 127th Street was reported. A woman was found dead on the top floor of a vacant building and......

Yesterday's fire at Lydig Avenue and White Plains Road in the Bronx ended up being a five-alarm blaze that tore through twelve businesses. Over 200 firefighters from 44 units were on the scene to fight the fire, which started around 8AM; the fifth alarm was called before 10AM, and the fire was under control by 11:39AM. The fire started in a laundromat and spread to other businesses, many of which do not have insurance. The......

A four-alarm fire that destroyed at least 12 businesses in the Bronx has also caused some transit issues. Smoke at the Pelham Parkway 2 station is causing the 2 to bypass all stations between Wakefield-241st and East 180th, bypassing Gun Hill Road, Burke Avenue, Allerton Avenue, Pelham Parkway and Bronx Park East. The MTA says there are shuttle buses between stations and also suggests riders take other buses for the B, D, 4 and 6......

A West Harlem co-op fire eventually required the efforts of 170 firefighters to extinguish as it spread through the West 113th St. building 's second, third, and fourth floors. Despite the fast-moving flames, three sisters and their 34-year-old father were rescued from the fifth floor of the building before they were overcome by smoke. According to the Daily News, 8-year-old Tanesha Spaulding told her father Lenny that she smelled smoke. Opening the front door of......

Two different fires in Brooklyn and the Bronx yesterday killed four people and injured three more. Both fires occurred relatively early Saturday morning. The first was reported about 7 a.m. and was on the second floor of a two-story house in Bensonhurst. The occupants were all immigrants from Guatemala. It took firefighters almost 40 minutes to bring the blaze under control, at which point three of the residents had succumbed to smoke inhalation. Another was......

A memo from FDNY Operations Chief Patrick McNally is instructing firefighters to conduct inspections of buildings under construction or demolition on two different timetables, depending on their height. City rules have long mandated that all buildings going up or coming down had to be inspected by the fire department every 15 days. McNally's memo now instructs firefighters to inspect buildings over 75 feet tall every 15 days, and below 75 feet tall every 30 days.......

A 37-year-old man ended his train trip atop a Metro-North car at the Pelham station, where he fell or was pulled from the train's roof, while on fire and suffering from burns after coming into contact with a high voltage power cable. Accounts of the incident differ, but do agree on the fact that the adventurer was named Eric Chavez, he suffered burns on his body, and that it was somewhat of a miracle that......

The Brooklyn fire that killed FDNY Lt. John H. Martinson was caused by a six-year-old child who was playing with wrapping or packaging paper over the open flames of a stove left on to heat a 14th floor apartment. When the paper caught fire, the boy attempted to hide the smoldering paper under a mattress, trailing embers throughout the apartment. When the child's mother discovered the bedroom in flames, she grabbed the six-year-old and his......

A FDNY lieutenant died as he and other firefighters were battling a fire in Crown Heights. Lieutenant John H. Martinson went into cardiac arrest during the 2-alarm fire on the 14th floor of the Ebbets Field Apartments. Over 100 firefighters responded to the fire, which was under control around 8:30PM - 75 minutes after the the first call. It's unclear what caused the fire (it's under investigation but does not appear to be suspicious) but......

Yesterday afternoon, the FDNY responded to a fire that broke out in a Midwood apartment building, only to find two girls, ages 1 and 2, alone. The girls' mother had left them with her boyfriend, who went out. Sigh. A neighbor noticed smoke coming from under the front door. Trina Thomas explained to the Daily News, "I ran upstairs to call the Fire Department. I had no idea there were kids by themselves at the......

The Thursday night fire in a Bedford-Stuyvsant brownstone that left a 3-year-old child in critical condition seems to have been caused by her playing with a butane lighter. There is also a tragic coincidence: In 1992, an apartment fire claimed the life of a 1-year-old sister. Gabriela Rogers, known as "Gabi," who suffered burns on 70-75% of her body, is still at New York Prebyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She and another young sister Camilila......

When fighting a fire in Bedford-Stuyvesant, firefighter saved a three-year-old girl who was left alone in a house on Stuyvesant Avenue. The FDNY responded at 7:23PM and heard the girl's cries coming from the rear of the house. An FDNY spokesman explained to the NY Times, "The fire was between them and the girl. Normally they would pull the door to the fire room closed, but there was no door to pull closed, so they......

A 56-year-old man in the Flatlands section died in his apartment after his cigarette started a fire. Sixty fire fighters responded to the one alarm fire that broke out around 7:45AM on 1275 East 51 Street. The FDNY had it under control within 20 minutes of responsing, but they were unable to save the apartment's dweller, Harvey Kudisch. Neighbors describe the widower as a heavy smoker, with one telling the Post, "The smoke got so......

Five people trapped in an apartment fire were rescued by firefighters early this morning in East Harlem. The apartment was on the third floor of a building on East 102nd St. At 4 a.m., the residence quickly filled with smoke and flames after the family's Christmas tree ignited. Firefighters believe the cause was faulty wiring on the tree's lights. When Charlene Southerland woke to the smell of smoke, she realized she and her husband were......

A reader who works across the street from Grand Central wrote in saying "I just went downstairs and saw cops, fire, ConEd, and people said a transformer blew up in the station." It appears Grand Central is fine, however the Met Life Building is on fire! From BNN:FIRE ON THE 10TH FLOOR OF A METLIFE BLDG.| FIRE ON 10TH FLR TRANSORMER VOLT ROOM OF A 59 STY BRICK BLDG WIRES BURNING ON THE ROOF......

Isiah Thomas thinks he deserves more time. Not that much more, just two weeks, but time to show he can turn this club around. Of course, he has had four years already, but at this point who is counting? Maybe Isiah noticed that the next two weeks contain six games, but only two of those teams currently have winning records. The two-week timeframe came up as Thomas was asked what he would do to a......

The 9 year-old boy who perished in a house fire on Staten Island late Sunday apparently died while trying to save his pets. Tommy Monahan apparently had been with his mother as they tried to escape the fire, but he raced back to his room for his dog, lizard and fish. A 12-year-old neighbor told the Daily News, "Everybody thought he was outside but he wasn't. Monahan's father had tried to rescue him from outside......

Yesterday's explosion at 1211 Avenue of the Americas (aka 6th Avenue at 48th Street), the building that houses News Corporation and entities like Fox News and the NY Post, was caused by two chemicals reacting together. About 700 people were evacuated from the 42nd to 45th floors as the explosion occurred on the 45th floor, where the mechanic room is located - and where chemicals are stored. Newsday reports that the explosion occurred while "hazardous......

Given how cold it is, this story is amazing: A teen who had been skateboarding with friends in Elmhurst last night heard some crying and found a a newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket, inside a brown paper bag, at the top of a dumpster. The temperature was below freezing. Christopher Moncada said his brother Brian found the baby and when they opened the bag, "The baby was facing down. It looked like it......