DianeC
03-10-2007, 12:31 AM
Since the other thread is getting pretty nasty... :rolleyes:
Hopefully the people that get the free batteries will truly need them and also do the right thing and put them in their smoke detectors (and not backwards!).
From a CPSC/USFA Press Release today:
News stories reported at least 200 people killed in home fires in first
three weeks of February.
One month, that only has 28 days.
In wake of fatal fire, city to hand out free batteries
BY HERBERT LOWE AND EMI ENDO
herbert.lowe@newsday.com
emi.endo@newsday.com
March 9, 2007, 4:15 PM EST
A day after nine people died in one of the city's worst house fires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Friday that 150,000 free batteries for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors would be distributed across the five boroughs over the next few days.
Joined by Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scopetta, Bloomberg made the announcement shortly after meeting with relatives of the woman and eight children who perished in Wednesday's tragic blaze blocks from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The dead children, who include a pair of 7-month-old fraternal twins, ranged in age up to 11.
The grief over the tragedy was so palpable that crowds arrived well before the regularly scheduled 1 p.m. prayer service at the Islamic Cultural Center in Morrisania, the site of Bloomberg's meeting.
Soon after the service began, prayer rugs were laid outside because there was no room inside. About 20 worshippers took off their shoes and prayed outdoors, hearing the service only when the door was open.
The Fire Department and the FDNY Foundation plan to distribute 1,000 free 9-volt batteries at Times Square on Saturday and to give out another 149,000 batteries over the next few days, officials said.
The group already gave out 20,000 batteries at transit hubs around the city on Monday, the officials said. The city normally launches such a campaign to remind residents to check their smoke detector batteries at the same time they change their clocks, but this time the number of batteries distributed is increasing, they said.
"The house in Highbridge had two alarms, but neither had batteries in them," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "It's impossible to say whether this would have saved lives, but smoke detectors really are the best defense that we have against fires and not using them is a risk that none of us can afford to take."
Bloomberg arrived at the Islamic center at about 11:20 a.m. to meet with the relatives and religious leaders and left about a half-hour later. At the meeting were Moussa Magassa, the father of five of the eight children who died, and three of his remaining children; and Mamadou Soumare, who lost his wife and three of their four children.
Dozens of community members also attended, Bloomberg said later at the news conference at Engine 68-Ladder 49, a firehouse a half mile from where the blaze occurred at 1022 Woodycrest Ave.
"As the father of two daughters, I really can't imagine the pain and grief that their loved ones are going through," he said. "A parent should never have to bury their children. It's just not the logical order of things."
Bloomberg also spoke about the families of the 150 other people who attended, most of whom, he said, immigrated to America to "pursue the great American dream -- and now find themselves sharing a great American tragedy with us.
"Their hope and hard work define our city, and I think I speak for everybody, the fire has stunned everyone," he added. "It's particularly shaken this tight-knit community. I hope everyone says a prayer for them and for those who have suffered serious injuries."
The blaze injured 13 other relatives, including some badly burned, and several firefighters, officials said.
Bloomberg said that two of the injured were discharged from Jacobi Medical Center on Thursday night, and that two others remained in critical condition and two others were stable.
The blaze started in a street-level bedroom about 11 p.m. Wednesday and took 150 firefighters two hours to bring under control, officials said. The dead children were killed by smoke inhalation, according to the city medical examiner's office.
Magassa, who was in his native West African nation of Mali when the fire broke out, arrived back in New York early Friday and quickly went to a hospital to visit his wife and children who survived. He left to meet with the mayor and then joined the jam-packed prayer service.
Soumare and Magassa took time to pray side by side inside the mosque, but Soumare left before the service started to head back to Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center to visit his daughter, Hassimi, 7. He arrived there about 1 p.m. with a police escort, staying until about 2:30 p.m., when he left wiping tears from his face, and without addressing the media.
Funeral services for all nine victims will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the Islamic Cultural Center, 371 E. 166th St. The bodies of Soumare's wife and children will be buried in Mali, while the Magassa children will laid to rest in New York, said Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, principal of the Islamic Cultural School, who is serving as a spokesman for both families.
Bloomberg said the city would provide financial assistance to help the families with the funerals.
Earlier Friday, before leaving for the mosque, Bloomberg again defended his decision, despite the overnight tragedy, not to cancel a previously scheduled trip Thursday to Miami.
"I made sure we had all of the appropriate city agencies involved," he said on his weekly radio show.
Bloomberg noted that he held a news conference about the fire Thursday morning and sent Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to the school where some of the children who died had attended.
The mayor went to Miami to learn about that city's sustainability initiatives and later held two meetings to try to raise money for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, of which he is chairman.
"You have to grieve but at the same time you have to focus on how could we have prevented this," Bloomberg said on the radio show. "Some people say you should stop everything. ... There are times you cancel, but I made sure everyone was doing what was right."
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Buildings, Kate Lundquist, said Friday that engineers and inspectors would be at the fire scene again Friday to document damage.
Except for the Sept. 11 terror attack, Wednesday's blaze claimed the most lives since the 1990 Happy Land arson that killed 87 people, authorities said.
The fire prompted waves of grief along the tight-knit Highbridge community. The two families were "getting a lot of comfort from the community," said Sidi Darrah, Mali ambassador to the United Nations.
Donations for the surviving family members had already topped $21,000, Darrah said.
Maria Cancel, 32, a mother of three, was among those who brought food to the home. She carried three black plastic bags full of sardines, macaroni and cheese, cereal and milk purchased at the corner bodega.
"It's not a lot, but it's something," Cancel said. "I'd see the kids every day. At a time like this everybody has to get together."
Robert Ortego, 10, joined a group of children at a makeshift memorial at a shuttered African grocery store just before classes started at Public School 73, as the votive candles reached the end of their wicks. Robert was a fifth-grade classmate of one of the children who died, Bandiogou Soumare, and called him "Bandi."
"His mom told me they came from West Africa to get a better education," Robert said.
Robert said he and Bandi would "chill out" and talk about movies. "I really saw him as a special kid. He had his own personality. While most kids would follow what others were doing, he would do his own thing."
Staff writers Emi Endo, Daniel Massey, Deborah S. Morris and Jennifer Kelleher and freelancers Matthew Nestel and Matthew Chayes contributed to this story.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
Hopefully the people that get the free batteries will truly need them and also do the right thing and put them in their smoke detectors (and not backwards!).
From a CPSC/USFA Press Release today:
News stories reported at least 200 people killed in home fires in first
three weeks of February.
One month, that only has 28 days.
In wake of fatal fire, city to hand out free batteries
BY HERBERT LOWE AND EMI ENDO
herbert.lowe@newsday.com
emi.endo@newsday.com
March 9, 2007, 4:15 PM EST
A day after nine people died in one of the city's worst house fires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Friday that 150,000 free batteries for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors would be distributed across the five boroughs over the next few days.
Joined by Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scopetta, Bloomberg made the announcement shortly after meeting with relatives of the woman and eight children who perished in Wednesday's tragic blaze blocks from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The dead children, who include a pair of 7-month-old fraternal twins, ranged in age up to 11.
The grief over the tragedy was so palpable that crowds arrived well before the regularly scheduled 1 p.m. prayer service at the Islamic Cultural Center in Morrisania, the site of Bloomberg's meeting.
Soon after the service began, prayer rugs were laid outside because there was no room inside. About 20 worshippers took off their shoes and prayed outdoors, hearing the service only when the door was open.
The Fire Department and the FDNY Foundation plan to distribute 1,000 free 9-volt batteries at Times Square on Saturday and to give out another 149,000 batteries over the next few days, officials said.
The group already gave out 20,000 batteries at transit hubs around the city on Monday, the officials said. The city normally launches such a campaign to remind residents to check their smoke detector batteries at the same time they change their clocks, but this time the number of batteries distributed is increasing, they said.
"The house in Highbridge had two alarms, but neither had batteries in them," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "It's impossible to say whether this would have saved lives, but smoke detectors really are the best defense that we have against fires and not using them is a risk that none of us can afford to take."
Bloomberg arrived at the Islamic center at about 11:20 a.m. to meet with the relatives and religious leaders and left about a half-hour later. At the meeting were Moussa Magassa, the father of five of the eight children who died, and three of his remaining children; and Mamadou Soumare, who lost his wife and three of their four children.
Dozens of community members also attended, Bloomberg said later at the news conference at Engine 68-Ladder 49, a firehouse a half mile from where the blaze occurred at 1022 Woodycrest Ave.
"As the father of two daughters, I really can't imagine the pain and grief that their loved ones are going through," he said. "A parent should never have to bury their children. It's just not the logical order of things."
Bloomberg also spoke about the families of the 150 other people who attended, most of whom, he said, immigrated to America to "pursue the great American dream -- and now find themselves sharing a great American tragedy with us.
"Their hope and hard work define our city, and I think I speak for everybody, the fire has stunned everyone," he added. "It's particularly shaken this tight-knit community. I hope everyone says a prayer for them and for those who have suffered serious injuries."
The blaze injured 13 other relatives, including some badly burned, and several firefighters, officials said.
Bloomberg said that two of the injured were discharged from Jacobi Medical Center on Thursday night, and that two others remained in critical condition and two others were stable.
The blaze started in a street-level bedroom about 11 p.m. Wednesday and took 150 firefighters two hours to bring under control, officials said. The dead children were killed by smoke inhalation, according to the city medical examiner's office.
Magassa, who was in his native West African nation of Mali when the fire broke out, arrived back in New York early Friday and quickly went to a hospital to visit his wife and children who survived. He left to meet with the mayor and then joined the jam-packed prayer service.
Soumare and Magassa took time to pray side by side inside the mosque, but Soumare left before the service started to head back to Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center to visit his daughter, Hassimi, 7. He arrived there about 1 p.m. with a police escort, staying until about 2:30 p.m., when he left wiping tears from his face, and without addressing the media.
Funeral services for all nine victims will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the Islamic Cultural Center, 371 E. 166th St. The bodies of Soumare's wife and children will be buried in Mali, while the Magassa children will laid to rest in New York, said Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, principal of the Islamic Cultural School, who is serving as a spokesman for both families.
Bloomberg said the city would provide financial assistance to help the families with the funerals.
Earlier Friday, before leaving for the mosque, Bloomberg again defended his decision, despite the overnight tragedy, not to cancel a previously scheduled trip Thursday to Miami.
"I made sure we had all of the appropriate city agencies involved," he said on his weekly radio show.
Bloomberg noted that he held a news conference about the fire Thursday morning and sent Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to the school where some of the children who died had attended.
The mayor went to Miami to learn about that city's sustainability initiatives and later held two meetings to try to raise money for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, of which he is chairman.
"You have to grieve but at the same time you have to focus on how could we have prevented this," Bloomberg said on the radio show. "Some people say you should stop everything. ... There are times you cancel, but I made sure everyone was doing what was right."
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Buildings, Kate Lundquist, said Friday that engineers and inspectors would be at the fire scene again Friday to document damage.
Except for the Sept. 11 terror attack, Wednesday's blaze claimed the most lives since the 1990 Happy Land arson that killed 87 people, authorities said.
The fire prompted waves of grief along the tight-knit Highbridge community. The two families were "getting a lot of comfort from the community," said Sidi Darrah, Mali ambassador to the United Nations.
Donations for the surviving family members had already topped $21,000, Darrah said.
Maria Cancel, 32, a mother of three, was among those who brought food to the home. She carried three black plastic bags full of sardines, macaroni and cheese, cereal and milk purchased at the corner bodega.
"It's not a lot, but it's something," Cancel said. "I'd see the kids every day. At a time like this everybody has to get together."
Robert Ortego, 10, joined a group of children at a makeshift memorial at a shuttered African grocery store just before classes started at Public School 73, as the votive candles reached the end of their wicks. Robert was a fifth-grade classmate of one of the children who died, Bandiogou Soumare, and called him "Bandi."
"His mom told me they came from West Africa to get a better education," Robert said.
Robert said he and Bandi would "chill out" and talk about movies. "I really saw him as a special kid. He had his own personality. While most kids would follow what others were doing, he would do his own thing."
Staff writers Emi Endo, Daniel Massey, Deborah S. Morris and Jennifer Kelleher and freelancers Matthew Nestel and Matthew Chayes contributed to this story.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.