Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Explosion and Fire Accidents

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Our Managing Partner Ben Rubinowitz  was interviewed by Mario Diaz of  PIX 11 as to the recent NYC East Village gas explosion.  Mr. Diaz quoted Ben as follows,  “It’s a  rare thing to have one party to blame. Usually there is shared fault in these cases.” Ben went on to state,  “The gas should have been shut down to the entire building no  matter what until this was rectified. In other words the failure to make sure that everyone was protected is where the fault lies.” To read the full article and see the video  interview click here.

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An explosion that injured 19 people, causing a massive a massive fire which caused three buildings to collapse, was caused when construction workers inside a sushi restaurant in the East Village accidentally hit a gas line. The explosion inside 121 Second Ave., between East 7th Street and St. Marks Place, caused the buildings at 121, 123 and 119 to collapse after they became engulfed in flames, according to city officials. No. 125 was still burning Thursday evening. “The initial impact appears to have been caused by plumbing and gas work that was occurring inside 121 Second Avenue,” said Mayor de Blasio at a news conference Thursday evening detailing the explosion that injured at least 14 civilians and five emergency responders. See Photos,Videos and  Read more at NBC New York.

See Video Below from CBS News;

https://youtu.be/FW9O0r3nuLE

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3000 pages of documents related to the investigation of the deadly gas explosion that destroyed two buildings in the East Harlem area of Manhattan, NYC have been released  by the National Transportation Safety Board.  The documents indicate that Con Edison replaced a section of the old iron pipe with a plastic pipe in 2011 and that the installation wasn’t pneumatically tested when it was installed. Investigators found that the that the service line had separated from the plastic main. Adding to that it appeared that the foreman wasn’t proprely trained . Read more in the New York Times

 

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A year ago 8 people were killed and many others suffered severe personal injuries in a gas explosion that destroyed two five-story buildings in Manhattan. A vigil led by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was held this to mark the anniversary of this tragedy. Cecilio Hernandez, a Mexican immigrant who lost his wife and his daughter in the explosion will be among the attendees with Oscar, his teenager son who was badly injured and spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. The family lived in the 1644 Park Avenue building. Four other victims lived in this building: Griselde Camacho, 44, Carmen Tanco, 67, George Amadeo, 44, and Alexis Salas, 22.  The two other victims 43 year old Andreas Panagopoulos and 34-year-old Mayumi Nakamura lived at 1646 Park Avenue.

The investigation indicates that the ground beneath the building was saturated with natural gas.

The 8:30 a.m. vigil was held at 108 E. 116th St. and attended by other survivors of the blast along with Mark-Viverito and other elected officials. Read more in the New York Daily News

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The risk of  being injured in a manhole explosion will be at its highest this week for New Yorkers as salty melted ice and snow will pour into the city manholes after a sudden increase in temperature. Hundreds of manhole explosions have sent several people to the hospital this winter in New York City. The heavy use of salt in the streets of New York during the wintry weather is to blame for these explosions.  The salty melting ice gets through the street cracks and erodes the underground electrical wires and cables causing dangerous manhole explosions that can injure passers by.There were well over a thousand of them so far this winter according to Con Ed. 600 explosions were reported in New York City in the first week of February alone. To prevent these explosions Con Ed started to install manhole covers with grates. These covers don’t prevent fire but at least in case of a fire they allow smoke to escape thus preventing an explosion.

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The risk  of fire accidents increases during the cold weather as New Yorkers are sometimes using dangerous alternative heating sources, particularly space heaters.  Last Sunday a 78 year old lady was found unconscious in her kitchen and pronounced dead  after a fire erupted in the middle of the night in her apartment in Bedford Park in the Bronx, NYC. On Monday a 30 year old mother and her 15 and 4 year old children from Brooklyn, NYC were forced to jump from a three story  window onto a scaffolding after a blaze ravaged the housing project they were living in. The mother was injured and broke her legs as she landed. On Tuesday a 4 year old boy was critically injured as he suffered burns and smoke inhalation in another house fire that erupted in Bensonhurst, Broolyn, NYC.

With the coming weather, we would like to remind New Yorkers about the dangers alternative heating sources such as space heaters can present and provide tips on how to protect their homes and families while trying to stay warm. Here is a video from the Consumer Reports that provides useful tips to Use Home Heating Equipment Safely to Prevent Fire.

 

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A man who couldn’t reach the fire escape died after he jumped from a fourth floor window and seven other people were injured, including one critically after a fire broke out at the Flatbush Hardware store in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

The man who died is Bassam Awad. He lived on the top floor of the building and owned a deli nearby. He tried to get to the fire escape but the flames were too intense so he decided to jump out of a window. He was married and had two children, ages 18 and 23. Another person is in critical condition and two others suffered serious burn injuries. Two civilians and two police officers were treated at the scene for minor injuries and smoke inhalation.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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kitchen%20fire%20prevention.jpgHome cooking is the number one cause of fire accidents and fire injuries in New York. 33 % of these fires are caused by unattended cooking. The most recent one happened in Queens, NYC, last week when a family left a traditional Haitian holiday soup unattended on the stove. The fire spread from the stove to the dining area and then to the living room and down the hall to the bedrooms. 3 people were killed and several firefighters suffered personal injuries as they were trying to save the victims.

Unattended cooking often happens when the cook becomes distracted and leaves the kitchen for various reasons such as answering the phone or the bell, looking at TVor taking care of the kids.

To avoid fire accidents, remember to stay in the kitchen all the time when you are cooking. Also avoid wearing loose sleeves that can catch fire and keep the area around the stove free of paper towels or anything than can catch fire. Keep children away from the stove and turn pot handles on the wall side. Avoid very high temperatures and in case of a pan fire do not use water but baking soda or shut off the heat and use a mitt and a lid to cover the fire.

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16 year old Oscar Hernandez suffered severe personal injury and his mother and sister died in the Harlem gas explosion that destroyed a building on E. 116th street in Harlem, NYC on March 12th this year. The young man spent 11 days in a coma and when he came out of the coma, he needed several surgeries that kept him in the hospital until June 27th. Oscar, his dad and his little sister are the only members of the family who survived the gas explosion. On Thanksgiving all three are happy to be alive and thank all the people who helped them.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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Picture: courtesy of Wikipedia

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Flatbush%20fire.jpg
Picture by NY Scanner

A young man is dead and 14 other people are injured including several of them in critical condition after a massive fire destroyed apartments in a three-story building on Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, NYC early this morning. The fire broke out above the stores and destroyed all the apartments. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News and see video below

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