Port Chester: Multiple Fire, Building Code Violations Found at Site of William Street Fire

Port Chester officials say they found multiple violations of fire prevention and building codes and signs of overcrowding in a William Street apartment building that had a small fire on Friday afternoon.

The discovery of a range of problems led Port Chester to declare 221 William St. as unsafe and unfit for human habitation. Village Manager Christopher Steers said approximately 75 people were living in the three-story building. The American Red Cross over the weekend was providing emergency shelter for about 45 of the building's residents who sought help.

The building, according to Steers, is no stranger to Port Chester village officials. He said the building has been previously been cited for a variety of problems:

- April 11, 2011: A notice of violation was issued for failure to obtain a fire inspection. The village says the property owner never responded.

- June 15, 2011: Multiple violations were found related to property maintenance; further attempts to gain entry met with no response from property owner.

- Jan. 3, 2012: A complaint was received about overcrowding and illegal occupancy; attempts to gain entry were unsuccessful. The village issued a notice that it wanted to enter the building on April 3, 2012, but was met with no response from the property owner.

The building came to focus again on late Friday afternoon when a small fire broke out in an apartment at the building. The fire was extinguished by members of the Port Chester Fire Department, who because of conditions they found at the building called Con Edison and had the main power and gas service to the building shut off as a precaution.

Port Chester building and code enforcement officials were called to the building and then posted a notice declaring the building unsafe. At the time, officials found there were about 75 people living in the building and contacted the Red Cross to begin providing assistance to the residents.

Inside the building, the tenant of the apartment where the fire started told officials she has not had power to the rear rooms of the apartment for several weeks. The apartment had multiple extension cords running from the kitchen area to the rear rooms and to the fixutre that caused the fire.

Officials found there were no smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors in the apartment and other areas of the apartment had overloaded power strips and mutli-plug adapters.

Also found by inspectors:

- Signs of overcrowding.

- The basement had two apartments with no emergency escape windows, no smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and locked rooms.

- Apartments on the first, second and third floors had multiple bedrooms with locked doors, no smoke/carbon monixide detectors and numerious electrical violations.

- The common area hallways had no smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, no emergency lighting and no exit signs.

- The rear of the property had a wooden porch with combustilbe storae, rotten wood and obstructions.

- There was evidence of illegal electrical work and wiring.

- Inspectors found evidence of possible illegal basement occupancy.

A report by Steers on the fire and the inspections said representatives of the property owner, Irving Place Properties LLC - an apparent subsidiary of Great American Properties - were at the building on Friday after the fire.

Steers said that in addition to the unsafe structure notice posted Friday, the village is drafting violation notices for the latest discoveries as well as a court appearance ticket for failure to obtain the required fire inspection and failure to obtain the required certificate of compliance.

To help with the relocation of residents from the building, the Port Chester Senior Center was opened as an emergency processing point so that Red Cross volunteers could help assess the needs of the affected residents. The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at another location in the village with the assistance of one of its local community partners, according to a Red Cross spokesman.

Although Red Cross volunteers were working throughout the weekend with the affected residents, the Red Cross was expecting to begin new assessments today of the displaced residents.