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There are calls for more safety measures after deadly NYC high-rise fire

Transcript¹

The deadly fire in a Bronx high-rise earlier this month has cast attention on fire safety requirements for apartment buildings. Seventeen residents died from smoke inhalation.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:

In that recent fire at a Bronx high-rise, opened doors allowed thick smoke to spread to the building's stairwells. And 17 residents died from smoke inhalation. Now, as NPR's Laurel Wamsley reports, there are calls for new fire safety measures that could prevent such loss of life.

LAUREL WAMSLEY, BYLINE²: The fire started in Mamadou Wague's apartment at the 19-story building called Twin Parks North West.

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MAMADOU WAGUE: I heard my kiddies scream, said, daddy, it's fire, fire, fire in our room. So I wake up everybody, get out.

WAMSLEY: His family escaped. But their apartment door didn't close behind them, as it's supposed to. Wague is originally from Mali and lives in a three-bedroom duplex unit with his wife and eight children. City officials identified the cause of the fire as a space heater that had been running in Wague's apartment. He says it's typical at Twin Parks to use one for supplemental heat.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WAGUE: Most people have a space heat in their room. It's cold in the room here.

WAMSLEY: In New York City, landlords are required to keep apartments at a minimum of 68 degrees during the day and 62 at night.

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RITCHIE TORRES: The use of space heaters is often a cry for help and a cry for heat.

WAMSLEY: U.S. Congressman³ Ritchie Torres represents this area of the Bronx. And he's announced plans to introduce legislation requiring automatic shutoffs on overheating space heaters. A city council member is pushing for stiffer penalties for landlords who ignore violations⁴, while Torres and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand say they'll propose national laws requiring heat sensors⁵ in federally subsidized housing, like Twin Parks.

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TORRES: It will enable real-time reports that could be sent to federal, state and city housing regulators that will flag when an apartment has insufficient⁶ heat and hot water.

WAMSLEY: City records show there had been four complaints about the heat in three apartments at Twin Parks last year. A spokesperson for the company said that all four heat complaints had been addressed and that they take heat complaints seriously. The building was bought in late 2019 by new owners, an LLC called Bronx Park Phase III Preservation⁷. One of the companies in the ownership group was founded by Rick Gropper, who was a housing adviser⁸ on Mayor Eric Adams' transition team. Two residents have already brought a lawsuit⁹ against the building's owners in New York state court, alleging¹⁰ negligence¹¹. And they've notified the city of an intent to sue it as well. The city's law department says it will review the claim. One question is why the door to Wague's apartment didn't close automatically and slow the fire's spread. Glenn Corbett, associate professor of fire science at John Jay College, says inspectors¹² are never going to be able to make sure that every door closer is working at every time.

GLENN CORBETT: It's an almost impossible task for even public agencies to keep up with this because there's just so many of them.

WAMSLEY: There are features that can make older buildings safer, he says, like a public address system to instruct residents on what to do. And there's one thing that would make an enormous difference, he says, sprinklers.

CORBETT: Sprinklers buy us enormous amounts of safety because they mask over problems with door closers. They mask over problems of propping¹³ doors open. It allows to sort of overcome common activities and behaviors and lack of attention that a normal person wouldn't even think about.

WAMSLEY: And sprinklers are heat activated¹⁴. So they work even if smoke detectors¹⁵ don't. In New York City, new residential¹⁶ buildings are required to have sprinklers. But the rules are different for older buildings like Twin Parks, built in 1972. It doesn't have sprinklers throughout the building, and it's not required to. There have been repeated efforts over the years, after other deadly fires, to require sprinklers in the city's older residential buildings. But adding sprinklers to existing buildings is expensive. And building owners have pushed back hard on previous proposals. Frank Ricci is executive vice¹⁷ president of the Rent Stabilization¹⁸ Association, a group that represents about 25,000 landlords in New York City.

FRANK RICCI: Cost is a big, big factor. But more importantly than that, the disruption of apartments and floors is really the problem here. You have to basically remove the tenants¹⁹ for, probably, several months.

WAMSLEY: And find somewhere for them to live in the interim²⁰.

RICCI: As a practical measure, it is really beyond disruptive to tenants' lives.

WAMSLEY: Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Torres say they'll work to secure federal funding to put sprinklers on all buildings. And the U.S.'s top fire official says that despite the difficulties, it is time to add sprinklers to older buildings. Lori Moore-Merrell is the U.S. fire administrator²¹ at FEMA.

LORI MOORE-MERRELL: It's almost imperative²². This is the type building where we have public housing. It is our lower income population. These are the buildings that need it the most. And so absolutely, we favor retrofitting and having laws in place that require this.

WAMSLEY: She grants that doing so is expensive.

MOORE-MERRELL: But at some point, we as a society are going to have to have a very difficult conversation. And in this time where we're all talking about equities²³, this is one of those conversations. What is the value of a life?

WAMSLEY: And will this be the fire that makes old buildings safer?

Laurel Wamsley, NPR News.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

4 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

5 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

6 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

7 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

8 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

9 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

10 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

11 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

12 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 propping   

支撑

参考例句：

• You can usually find Jack propping up the bar at his local. 你常常可以看见杰克频繁出没于他居住的那家酒店。
• The government was accused of propping up declining industries. 政府被指责支持日益衰败的产业。

14 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

15 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

16 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

17 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

18 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

19 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

20 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

21 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

22 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

23 equities   

普通股，股票

参考例句：

• These are invested mainly in the OECD bonds and equities. 这些资产主要投资于经济合作及发展组织的债券与股票市场。
• They are also advantage of the global rebound in equities. 它们还在利用全球股市反弹的机会。