Photos: Twitter
New York City locals are demanding the City Housing Authority (NYCHA) strengthen its safety standards for tenants after a Manhattan fire left one man dead and forced two teenagers to hang outside of their apartment window for survival.
A Change.org petition has been created to demand that the NYCHA provide fire extinguishers for all its residents. A video of the incident went viral.
Petition starter Iris Key of NYC says: “The same way NYCHA enforces gates on windows and carbon monoxide alarms they should also supply tenants, who are mainly low income with fire extinguishers. Most of these buildings are not maintained correctly and lack rapid responses when tickets for maintenance are requested by tenants.”
Yvette Gomez of the Bronx, New York says that, “This shouldn’t be happening. Tenants need a way to either slow down the fire in their apartment or a safe way to escape.”
NYC local Josephine Perez says: “I’m signing because my building has had plenty of fires & we panic because there is nowhere to go if our door is not accessible. We’ve had a fire and the only thing to do was pray I could shut it off before it spreads. NYCHA claims to care then show it. Extinguishers should be a priority for every tenant. Nobody should go through what these kids have gone through…”
