NJ homes to get even more expensive

From the Star Ledger:

Legislation to require sprinklers in new N.J. homes on fast track after Edgewater fire

A bill that would require most new single and two-family homes built in New Jersey to be equipped with sprinkler systems is on the fast track after the massive fire that ravaged an Edgewater apartment complex.

The state Senate’s budget committee today voted 9-1 to approve the “New Home Fire Safety Act,” which would require fire suppression systems — currently mandated in larger projects like hotels, apartment buildings and dormitories — also be incorporated into the smaller homes.

The bill (A1698) passed the Assembly in June but had not moved since then. But it was fast-tracked in the upper house after the Edgewater blaze, when it was transferred from the committee where it would normally start to the budget committee — its last stop before a vote in the full Senate.

The legislation was passed by both houses in the last legislative session but Gov. Chris Christie refused to sign it in January of 2014, allowing to expire on his desk through a “pocket veto.”

Jeff Kolakowski, director of government affairs for the New Jersey Builders Association, said fire safety has improved drastically in new homes without mandating sprinklers and that it would add $6,000 to the cost of a new home.

“This legislation will add thousnds of dollars to the cost of housing, slow down the housing sector … and make it more difficult for residents to realize the American dream of homeownership,” Kolakowski said.

That testimony drew a rebuke from state Sen. Brian Stack (D-Hudson)

“I just don’t see how you put a price tag on somebody’s life, whether it’s a resident of that structure or a firefighter arriving on the scene. I’m all for selling homes and moving the economy. But at the expense of somebody’s life?” he said.

This entry was posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics. Bookmark the permalink.

80 Responses to NJ homes to get even more expensive

  1. grim says:

    If they say it’s only going to add $6000 to the cost of a new home, it really means it’s going to add $12k to the price of a new home. Then, everyone’s insurance goes up due to the cost of leaking sprinklers, since it’s far more likely the system will leak and damage property than it will reduce the cost of the damage of a fire (it won’t). Realize that in any 1 or 2 story home, you’ll have either all the sprinkler plumbing or half the plumbing in the attic. You ever wonder why there is no plumbing running through attics in the North half of the US? Because pipes in the attic will freeze and burst.

    What does the Edgewater fire even have to do with single family homes?

  2. anon (the good one) says:

    @pdacosta: #Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 after decades of intensive childhood vaccine efforts.

  3. Toxic Crayons says:

    So then it must have come from outside the United States. Open borders yay!

    anon (the good one) says:
    February 10, 2015 at 7:10 am
    @pdacosta: #Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 after decades of intensive childhood vaccine efforts.

  4. Liquor Luge says:

    “This legislation will add thousnds of dollars to the cost of housing, slow down the housing sector … and make it more difficult for residents to realize the American dream of homeownership,” Kolakowski said.

    This is the purpose of such legislation. Make NJRER uninhabitable, save for the ultra rich and the entitlement class that serves it.

  5. Liquor Luge says:

    Bleed the productive classes dry, steal their wealth, and render their offspring stupid.

    This is the game plan.

  6. Essex says:

    I wanna Pony.

  7. dentss dunnigan says:

    sprinklers must be serviced every year ,just like lawn sprinklers ,plus I’m sure they will be required to be checked every other year by the town ,another “fee”

  8. chicagofinance says:

    The End Is Nigh (Municipal Services Edition):
    SAN FRANCISCO — A water manager is facing discipline after he was caught urinating in an empty reservoir that supplies drinking water for the San Francisco Bay Area.
    San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokesman Tyrone Jue said Monday that the agency confirmed anonymous complaints that maintenance planner Martin Sanchez had urinated in the 674-million-gallon reservoir in the Sierra Nevada foothills early last month.
    The reservoir had been drained for maintenance, and officials say public health wasn’t in danger.
    Sanchez, who earns $111,000 annually, was in line for a promotion before the incident. He now faces a maximum penalty of a weeklong suspension without pay.
    A message left with Jue seeking comment from Sanchez wasn’t immediately returned.
    San Francisco’s water comes mostly from Sierra Nevada runoff.
    Last year, a 19-year-old Portland, Oregon, boy was cited for public urination and trespassing after he was accused of urinating in a 35-million-gallon city reservoir.
    After learning of the incident, Portland officials began dumping water into the sewer system, but the process was slowed by heavy rains. As a result, they diverted the water to an empty reservoir and used the supply for nondrinking purposes.
    It was the second time in less than three years Portland has emptied a reservoir due to concerns that someone had urinated in the water.

  9. S&P 500 futures rallying on Greece possibly moving away from the Euro and going to USD? Maybe rename it East California?

  10. Mike says:

    THE THREE TENNOR ISTS:

    Wonder how long this will remain available on the web?

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/VmffgIqlAYA

  11. JJ says:

    Sprinkler thing is a Sandy thing. NY Rising/NFIP to get grants to rebuild started requiring sprinkles in new house being replaced with govt funds. Next thing you know Long Beach NY starts saying all new homes should have it NYS starts thinking of passing a rule and now NJ

    Big Difference is NY Rising/FEMA was going to pay for it. Now everyone will have to do it and not be reimbursed.

  12. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    Box Up this Tudor Mansion and Haul It Away for $125K

    This ancient Tudor manor was brought over from England in parts just over a century ago at great expense, and reassembled in a beautiful, leafy setting in Ossining, New York. It has a pair of 14th-century fireplaces, intricately timbered ceilings, and a magnificent wrought-iron door. However, the nature preserve that owns Croft Manor recently decided that the historic house was too much of a hassle to maintain, and put it up for sale. This $8,000-square-foot mansion in one of the most expensive counties in America is currently going for the bargain basement price of $125K.

    But there’s a catch! >>
    But the sale comes with a rather intimidating proviso: the next lord or lady of the manor will have to remove it entirely from the grounds of the nature preserve. It came over in crates, and so it will leave (if anyone agrees to the stipulation). Local preservationists are aghast at the idea, but the nature preserve claims it had no other choice. Bringing the Tudor mansion up to code will cost several million dollars, which is more than the Teatown Lake Reservation’s annual operating budget. “In a perfect world, we could afford to fix the house and find a use for it, but our responsibility is to a thousand acres of woodlands, not a single house,” the director of the preserve told the New York Times. Below, photos of the “cheapest” mansion in Westchester county:

    http://curbed.com/archives/2015/02/09/theres-a-big-catch-to-this-ancient-manor-on-sale-for-125k.php

  13. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    Maybe move that Tudor to Newark?

    Newark Selling Couples Vacant Lots for $1,000 in Valentine’s Day Sale

    The city of Newark is offering couples who want to build homes municipally-owned lots for $1,000 in a “Valentine’s Land Sale Day.”

    Buyers will be required to make a $500 down payment and pay the additional $500 at closing. They are responsible for all closing costs and must submit a site plan approved by the City Planning Board.

    http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Newark-Valentines-Day-Land-Sale-Home-Ownership-New-Jersey-291277481.html

  14. JJ says:

    http://www.brickunderground.com/blog/2015/02/1000_lots_newark

    NJ is having a Valentines sale and are selling buildable lots to couples for $1,000 each

  15. Xolepa says:

    JJ got beat by 3 minutes on that one. I hope his trading technique isn’t the same.

  16. Walking Bye says:

    not only the sprinklers while at it you will also need a fire alarm system to monitor it, backflow preventer which needs to be inspected annually, pumps if your city water is low at your end of the street. this could be an owners nightmare.

  17. grim says:

    I just don’t understand why you can’t just leave the decision up to the buyer/builder of the home. If I’m building a house, and want sprinklers, I’ll put in sprinklers. If the benefit was as significant as is being claimed, don’t you think more homes would be built with sprinklers? Surely, plumbers aren’t saying no to the extra work.

  18. grim says:

    And this nonsense about the Edgewater building not having sprinkers in the attic.

    What on Earth do these people think? To put sprinkers into an attic you need to use a completely different, and completely separate sprinkler system. Anything in the attic will be subject to freezing temperatures, and would need to use a very expensive dry pipe system, while anything on the interior of the building can use standard wet pipe systems.

    So now, what do they expect, that buildings need to have two completely separate sprinkler systems installed?

    Why not limit the amount of combustibles that pigs can haul into their pit?

    As a real estate agent, I was shocked to see how many borderline hoarders existed in the state. Tons of combustible crap stored in attics, bedrooms, basements, garages. Literally, tons. I’ve seen some estate cleanouts that required two 40 yard dumpsters, and that only cleared out enough to hold an estate sale for the remaining crap that was only marginally better than trash.

  19. grim says:

    Was in one house that had 3 drums of diesel fuel in the garage, along with another hundred gallons of gasoline, paint, paint thinner, all manner of flammable solvents, naptha, kerosene, new motor oil, spent motor oil, 2 stroke premix, etc etc. I saw at least 1 propane tank, I’m sure it was full. F*ck, if that place caught fire there would be no stopping that disaster.

    Perhaps we need annual door to door inspections.

    Outlaw the sale of candles in NJ.

    Make smoking indoors in a multi-unit building illegal.

  20. anon (the good one) says:

    define “benefit”

    GM fixing its cars to avoid people dying in them was not a “benefit” to GM

    grim says:
    February 10, 2015 at 10:12 am

    If the benefit was as significant as is being claimed, don’t you think more homes would be built with sprinklers?

  21. JJ says:

    http://maltzauctions.com/auction_detail.php?id=247500

    This is a great deal if you have the low income to qualify

  22. JJ says:

    50 percent of time being three minutes later is good.

    Xolepa says:
    February 10, 2015 at 10:03 am
    JJ got beat by 3 minutes on that one. I hope his trading technique isn’t the same.

  23. Xolepa says:

    Another thing that the idiot State guy doesn’t mention is that if you use a water utility company, that’s a separate $75 monthly bill for keeping the correct water pressure. At least it is, on the commercial side. Ask me how I know.

  24. Thomas says:

    3.

    Anon, I know this is a really difficult connection for you to make, but when you leave the borders wide open, don’t be surprised by measles outbreaks and worse.

  25. Xolepa says:

    So, this state guy doesn’t remember this joke, with the appropriate twist:

    Senator, would you legislate sprinklers if the average installation cost is a thousand dollars and it would save 1 life?

    Senator: Why of course.

    Senator, would you legislate sprinklers if the average installation cost is a million dollars and it would save 1 life?

    Senator: What? That’s too high of a price to pay.

    Senator, what is then the correct price for 1 life?

  26. grim says:

    Invalid analogy. cars are mass produced, homes are individually built, one at a time.

    Homes are constructed to meet government adopted regulations for building, electrical, fire, plumbing, and life safety. The codes represent the agreed upon standard for construction. At any time, anyone can build above and beyond what the codes state. The codes do not absolve the builder or subcontractors of all liability, although they do represent an agreed minimum standard.

    However, inherent in the code is the provision for the flexibility needed when building a one-off home. Every site is different, every plan is different, construction materials are different, there are regional differences in construction techniques and availability of materials.

    In addition, code changes are not retroactive, nor is it reasonable for them to be, barring a major issue (asbestos, aluminum wiring, etc etc).

    There are plenty of 200 year old houses in the US that are still standing, perfectly safe, and lovingly inhabited. These are not death traps.

    200 years of building codes have only marginally improved safety. The structure of a house itself is relatively benign. More often than not, accidents such as fires can be tracked back to questionable activities of the inhabitants.

    There is no such thing as a fireproof structure, even if it’s made of steel and concrete.

  27. Xolepa says:

    Grim, some code changes are retroactive. Case in point:
    About 15 years ago, a tenant of mine got drunk and nasty. He had a keg at his 7/4 party. Put his hand through the glass of a screen door, deliberately. Punched through it. Glass shattered. He had to go to the hospital. $20k of medical bills. Uninsured. Glass, as it turns out, wasn’t tempered. I didn’t know it as I owned the building only 1 year at the time. Guess who got sued? Insurance had to pick it up.

    I still remember that scumbag well. I could have screwed him by notifying the doctor and hospital that he had a settlement coming. They would have taken it all. Insurance company wanted the case closed, ASAP. Didn’t give me enough time.

  28. leftwing says:

    Wow, news hit a new low this morning.

    State Sen Brian “Hack”. Using the Schumer model, knee jerk reaction for headlines damn the consequences. My personal fave Schumer unintended consequence was when he excorciated the banks for ATM fees of a couple bucks in Harlem and got legislation passed to ban it. Every bank pulled their ATM and the neighborhoods were in an uproar as no one could access their cash without a subway ride. Seems it wasn’t worth it to the banks to have their machines abused for free. Who knew?

    The “at the expense of a life” argument really bothers me. It is a non-argument. Worse, it extinguishes logic and reason. If you really believed it you would have to support a full time caretaker for every 16 year old and under – he may cross against the light and get hit, it’s a life. SIDS. What you mean when you say “at the expense of someone’s life” is that I have absolutely no support for my statement so I am going to try to take a low road, emotional appeal to shout you down and make you do what I say.

    And whose life is it? Mine. The firefighter’s if my house goes up in flames? I’ll gladly sign the equivalent of a DNR for my house and pay the requisite higher insurance. No sprinklers, and if it catches fire let it burn to the ground.

    Portland Piss. Priceless. Am I reading this correctly? They have twice emptied a 35m gallon reservoir because someone took a leak in there? Let’s do some math….even with a heavy bladder that leak was maybe 16oz (1/8 gallon). So that means .004 parts per million. Carbon monoxide is OSHA acceptable up to 100ppm over eight hours. Nitrous dioxide (really nasty evacuate the building kind of stuff) is good to 3ppm. Sorry Portland, but you have higher piss ppm on the straw dispenser at your Starbucks than in the reservoir. On this logic, changing a diaper should require a full ebola suit.

    $1000 Newark lots. Because those with in an interest and need to buy an empty lot in Newark for a grand have the resources (financial and otherwise) to go through the building approval process. And the capital to front the costs of construction since so many banks are knocking down the doors to make building loans these days. In Newark.

    So far down the rabbit hole I can’t even see daylight and it’s not even 11am.

  29. NJT says:

    #10

    I guess fish and waterfowl pee and poop out of the water?

    Reminds me of the old W.C. Fields quote “I don’t drink water, fish F@ck in it.”

    Only in California.

  30. Libturd in Union says:

    I don’t see the sprinkler law passing. Not unless the plumbing lobby has really grown exponentially.

    Really, if it’s in response to the Edgewater fire, then our lawmakers should change the density requirements. But we all know it’s these developers that grease the palms of the local politicians. Look at good old Montclair. The whole village nature of the town is rapidly being destroyed by developers with lofty claims made with absolutely no impact studies. In just ten years Montclair will have added a nursing home (5 floors), a hotel (9 stories), and two huge condos (6 floors each). Fortunately, the condos are actually poured cement and metal framing so an Edgewater type fire is much less likely. Can’t say the same for the kindle-like structure that is going up in Bloomfield. The Building looks like a recipe for a fire disaster. The buildings are also built so close to the edge of the road (no setback whatsoever) that a simple car fire would likely cause huge damage to the structure. Hey, it’s only about 1,000 people at risk.

  31. grim says:

    In a fire, concrete will fracture and explode under thermal stress, it’s called spalling. Hot enough, and long enough, and a concrete structure will fail.

    Steel I-Beams will fail in a fire as well. If you’ve ever seen the remains of a burnt out steel structure, you’ll have seen steel i-beams twist like Twizzlers.

    Even in Type II constructure (steel and concrete) – what people seem to be wanting to mandate here – it’s still considered unprotected. Yes the main structural components are not combustible, but that doesn’t mean they will not fail.

    So what’s next, requiring all steel and concrete to be covered in intumescent paints and fire-resistant coatings as well? You can take this to the n-th degree.

  32. leftwing says:

    33. But grim, the CHILDREN!!!!!

  33. grim says:

    I don’t get it, what’s burning in most fires is not the structure of the building, but the contents of the building.

    I see ZERO DISCUSSION ABOUT THE FLAMMABLE CONTENTS stored in these buildings.

    I see ZERO DISCUSSION ABOUT THE SOURCES OF IGNITION in these buildings.

    I can show you plenty of steel and concrete apartments that burnt straight down to the ground.

  34. grim says:

    The distillery is a bunker for exactly these reasons, the floor is 6″ of high strength concrete, the walls are anywhere from 8″ to 18″ of high strength concrete. The roof it all steel i-beams and steel pan. The sub-structures are steel and poured concrete. There are essentially no combustible structural elements, you could walk around with a torch or purposely start a fire and little to nothing would actually burn. Electrical is almost entirely explosion proof, utility room is a separate concrete bunker in a bunker. There are no windows, doors are all heavy steel. There are no floor coverings, all concrete. There are no wall coverings, all concrete.

    You want to live in a place like this? Is it safe? Hell yes. But it’s like living in a soviet gulag prison. And, the minute you drag in a couch and carpet, clothes, furniture, and book cases, you’ve hauled in nearly all of the fire risk.

  35. leftwing says:

    BUT THE CHILDREN!!!!!!

  36. grim says:

    Yankee Candle needs to be shut down.

  37. grim says:

    In the year 2015 – Do we really need candles for any reason at all? Sorry, but the f*cking Clean Linen or Cranberry Chutney candles are worthless and dangerous.

    From 2007-2011, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 10,630 home structure fires that were started by candles. These fires caused 115 deaths, 903 injuries and $418 million in direct property damage. Candles caused 4% of reported home fires, 5% of home fire deaths, 7% of home fire injuries, and 6% of the direct property damage from home fires during this period.

    Smoking in an apartment building? Why is this legal?

    In 2011, there were an estimated 90,000 smoking-material fires in the United States.These fires caused 540 civilian deaths, 1,640 civilian injuries and $621 million in direct property damage.

  38. grim says:

    By the way, the number 1 cause of fires in the US:

    Unattended cooking fires

    So, basically, the leading cause of fires in the US is idiocy, and is entirely preventable.

    But hey, yeah, let’s require sprinkers and not bother actually doing something to reduce the actual cause of fires… Excuse me while I go drop this turkey into the deep fryer on my kitchen counter and go take a shower.

  39. homeboken says:

    RE: grim says:
    February 10, 2015 at 11:52 am
    By the way, the number 1 cause of fires in the US:
    Unattended cooking fires

    My firm owns and operates thousands of apartment units. The best investment in fire protection is the under hood range queen. They retail for about $40 a pair, purchased in bulk, the cost drops to about 25 a pair. Especially in the south, these babies have saved more lives than any sprinkler system would. Tenant comes home drunk and fires up the oil on the range to fry up a snack, you know how this ends.

  40. Anon E. Moose says:

    ChiFi [10];

    I’m not saying the guy shouldn’t get dinged, but drain the reservoir? Exactly where do they think all the fish and animal waste goes?

  41. POS cape says:

    36

    Grim, when the clot armageddon goes down, I’m heading for your distillery.

  42. Libturd in Union says:

    Oh…Revel deal will be squashed by end of day.

  43. Xolepa says:

    (42) The concern, I believe, is trace chemicals from the urine. That wouldn’t be an issue either, except for

    THE LAWYERS

  44. Juice Box says:

    My dear old mom almost burned down our house when we were kids. We were away at school and she was home being a mom, cleaning etc and doing stuff like reheating a pan full of grease and she left it unattended. Before you know it it engulfed the range hood and the cabinets above, flames burned up through the old range hood. Fire Dept showed up and put it our before the whole house was gone. Insurance paid for an almost new kitchen out of it. Went from a 60s kitchen to an 80s kitchen.

  45. Libturd in Union says:

    Interesting law just passed by Christie let’s up to 10% of a town’s students get bused up to 20 miles to attend public schools in other towns if there is capacity. I expect towns like Montclair to begin repurposing extra space asap.

  46. joyce says:

    Link? I wonder what the details are…

    Libturd in Union says:
    February 10, 2015 at 12:46 pm
    Interesting law just passed by Christie let’s up to 10% of a town’s students get bused up to 20 miles to attend public schools in other towns if there is capacity. I expect towns like Montclair to begin repurposing extra space asap.

  47. JJ says:

    If Sprinklers are required in NJ Bedrooms the hot MILFs will be setting them off all the time

  48. Libturd in Union says:

    Gator emailed me. It’s on NJ.com. Too busy to google it unfortunately.

  49. Libturd in Union says:

    http://www.state.nj.us/education/choice/

    Have no fear. The big city (or is that sh1tty) schools are not eligible to participate. Hmmm.

    Here’s the list. By the way, not a single school in Essex County is participating. Hmmmm. I wonder why?

  50. Libturd in Union says:

    http://www.state.nj.us/education/choice/districts/districts.pdf

    Oh yeah, it appears the bill passed in 2010, but may now just be gaining traction.

  51. Libturd in Union says:

    District participation in the program is optional. Once approved, the choice district designates the available seats in specific grades and programs that are open to choice students. Where choice options are available, any student who resides in New Jersey is eligible to apply.

    Back to the salt mines (writing performance reviews).

  52. grim says:

    Here’s the list. By the way, not a single school in Essex County is participating. Hmmmm. I wonder why?

    It appears that very few “good” school districts are participating either. 2 in all of Passaic County? Haledon and Pompton Lakes?

  53. Libturd in Union says:

    Yup. And looking at the list in South Jersey, it’s mostly poor blue collar towns who want the additional tax dollars I suppose and have capacity in their schools since so many families have left. I suppose if you live in Camden, it provides some merit. But then, why are we spending inordinate amounts of cash to fix up our big city schools?

  54. Statler Waldorf says:

    Good tip, I like those under-hood fire extinguishers for the stove — is this the model?

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FL6VU3Y

  55. leftwing says:

    There is no bottom to real estate values in blue ribbon towns the day a legitimate ‘choice’ or voucher program happens in NJ.

    Black water.

  56. Libturd in Union says:

    Haledon might as well be Paterson. Pompton Lakes is tiny, but their schools are supposedly pretty good. But where would the kids feed into Pompton Lakes from? Wayne?

  57. Libturd in Union says:

    I could only imagine how much this program is costing to administer and how few children are participating it.

  58. grim says:

    Seems that most of the options are Trenton/Camden.

  59. Libturd in Union says:

    Yup. Have you found a single decently regarded school system participating?

  60. Libturd in Union says:

    Well…in the South.

  61. chicagofinance says:

    Cornell FINALLY gets some recognition from the NYC area tabloids……
    http://nypost.com/2015/02/10/cornell-student-charged-in-murder-of-ceo-father/

  62. Anon E. Moose says:

    Lib [60];

    I could only imagine how much this program is costing to administer and how few children are participating it.

    You say that like its an unintended consequence. More union employees on the public dole; they get to crow about offering (and supporting!) ‘school choice’ when the reality is nothing of the kind. That sounds like a democrat/teachers’ union win-win!

  63. Comrade Nom Deplume with extended middle finger to the haters. says:

    Obama Admin continues to smash new records, both for the fourth quarter and for the year. More Americans renounce their citizenship during this quarter than in any other, and more Americans were announced their citizenship and 2014 than in any other year.

    Now, if we could just convince Fabian to give up his green card and leave the country he despises so much.

  64. Comrade Nom Deplume with extended middle finger to the haters. says:

    Renounced, not announced. Voice recog still has a way to go.

  65. The Great Pumpkin says:

    66- Very good book that every citizen should read before they get the right to vote. Without a certain level of understanding on the issue of economics, that voter becomes dangerous. Even more dangerous, is having elected officials with no economic background making economic decisions. I was guilty of this, manipulated by people with no understanding of prices or scarcity, just good intentions. These people with good intentions, lack the knowledge to realize how much harm these good intentions bring to the table.

    You can’t provide for every “unmet need”. It’s expected in an system built on scarcity to have “unmet needs”. This is where a lot of people, including myself, go off the cliff. You can’t solve all the “unmet needs”, you will just create more “unmet needs” by moving resources in a system based on scarcity from one need to another. You must let “price” guide the needs of the economic system. “Price” in a free market economy is nothing more than information for the allocation of resources. It is the most efficient means of meeting the needs of an economic system.

    “A few lines of reasoning can change the way we see the world”- Steven E. Landsburg (It has done wonders for me)

    “By its very nature as a study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses, economics is about incremental trade-offs– not about “needs” or ” solutions.” That my be why economists have never been as popular as politicians who promise to solve our problems and meet our needs.” (Thomas Sowell, “Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy)

  66. anon (the good one) says:

    @AP:
    BREAKING:
    New Greek government wins confidence vote in parliament on eve of bailout talks.

  67. grim says:

    So it turns out that the workers who accidentally started the fire in Edgewater never bothered to call the fire department or 911. They previous statement about trying to fight the fire than calling for help 15 minutes later was a lie misunderstanding…

    So all this whip saw overcorrection about building codes? Because someone basically commits unintentional arson.

    All the regulation and code can’t stop this kind of idiocy.

  68. grim says:

    From the Star Ledger:

    AvalonBay workers who sparked massive fire never called 911

    The AvalonBay workers who sparked a massive blaze that displaced 1,000 people didn’t delay their call to 911 for 15 minutes — in fact, at no point did they call the emergency number, according to town officials and documents.

    A review by NJ Advance Media of dozens of pages of dispatch logs, 911 tapes as well as interviews with officials has revealed no record that any AvalonBay employee alerted authorities to the Jan. 21 fire, a blaze that grew to be so spectacular it could be seen clear across the west side of Manhattan. One of the two complex buildings was destroyed in the fire, permanently displacing about 500 residents.

    Edgewater Police Chief William Skidmore previously was quoted as saying unlicensed maintenance workers, accidentally sparked the spectacular blaze at around 4 p.m., then called a supervisor. Skidmore said then that “they,” implying maintenance workers, then took 15 minutes before reporting the fire to authorities, which allowed the fire to spread.

    Skidmore now says that of the six 911 calls made to report the fire, none were made by AvalonBay employees. Instead, dispatch logs obtained through a public records request show that firefighters were first notified of the blaze at 4:22 p.m. by the automated fire alert system in the complex.

  69. Liquor Luge says:

    Oh, for the days when the #1 cause of fire was smoking cigarettes in bed.

  70. Liquor Luge says:

    chi (65)-

    Another stressed-out Cornell punk loses his shit.

  71. Liquor Luge says:

    Ithaca is Gorges Diving

  72. Liquor Luge says:

    Funny how many kids freak out in a city full of choom.

  73. Liquor Luge says:

    Every time I go to Ithaca on business, my clients are st0ned out of their skulls.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

  74. NJCoast says:

    The Deal Elemenary School (K-8) in Deal, NJ is now a choice school. For years the neighboring towns could send their kids and pay tuition due to low enrollment (due to summer only residents and religious school) . There was one of each grade with the average class size of 10. Now it is tuition free. Figures after I paid for two kids for 9 years.

  75. leftwing says:

    65. An Aggie, not part of the Ivy League :)

    71. No 911 call by the contractors? Same reason I’m forced to travel down the 40mph posted county road behind a landscaping truck going 20mph. Not legal. Afraid of any interaction with authorities.

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