The New York City Council’s Committee on Fire and Emergency Management held a joint hearing with other agencies and committees to discuss the state of fire safety in city buildings.

This comes over two years after the deadly fire in Twin Parks changed the lives of many in the Fordham neighborhood. The fire took the lives of 17 people, including eight children, and impacted hundreds of residents. All 17 deaths were caused by smoke inhalation and the fire was started by a malfunctioning space heater – all things that elected officials say could’ve been prevented.

Since that fire, the City Council has put several laws in place, including laws that strengthen self-closing door violations in buildings. Thursday’s hearing also had the FDNY emphasize that outreach is important to prevent deadly fires, and that they’ve seen a decrease in numbers.

“In 2022… there were 27 space heater fires,” said one FDNY official. “Last year, we had 12.”

Councilmember Oswald Feliz says that even though massive steps have been taken in fire safety legislation, there’s still more work to do.

“We continue to have new issues that are causing fires and tragedies,” said Feliz. “The issue of fire safety continues to evolve, so we need to continue working on the different causes of fire… we have e-bikes that are causing fires almost every single day.”