Space heaters shouldn't be a necessity
Examining the horrible Bronx fire
Seventeen people were killed — including eight children — in a Sunday fire at an apartment in the Bronx, the city’s worst blaze in decades. Officials say the flames were started by a faulty space heater that was running in a third-floor apartment bedroom.
Those supplemental heaters are, by some measure, responsible for roughly 80% of house fires. So why would any family use a space heater? From the New York Times:
The connection between inadequate heating, climate change, and poverty is a growing field of study. And there is ample evidence that the number of house fires increases as the weather gets cold, and families rely more on space heaters for warmth.
The building is owned by an investors group that include a company co-founded by Rick Gropper, who is a member of the new New York City major, Eric Adams, transitional team on housing. After the fire, property owners released this statement (also from the Times):
Property owners are required (by law) to provide heat if that is included in the tenant agreement. In Connecticut, if a tenant is not provided heat — per the rental agreement — they should call the police, and their local health department.
Let me preface this with I am in no way on the landlord's side, but... I'm going to venture a guess that there's a minimum temperature requirements for apartments that include heat in the rent. I like it cold. The thermostat upstairs (we have two zones) is set to 64. A co-worker has her thermostat set at 70. There are some people that are seriously sensitive to cold and as such, there might be a need for an additional heat source. That being said, wouldn't it make sense that ALL space heaters have a kill switch???
In Danbury there was a slumlord who owned hundreds of apartments. In particular there were some that had no heat except for kerosene heaters, which threw off a lot of moisture and the windows in those buildings were always wet on the inside. They looked like barracks. There was a fire in one of his other buildings years ago, but luckily all dozen or so tenants got out alive. Papa Slumlord is long gone. He was convicted once on some financial shenanigans, but not for murder. I guess his sons are doing better, since I don't hear about them nearly as much.