Gas Explosion Causes Partial Collapse at Bronx NYCHA Building: Officials

Emergency response units and elected officials rushed to the Bronx Wednesday morning after a partial building collapse at a public housing complex.

No injuries or deaths were reported after a gas explosion caused a shaft to collapse in the 17-story New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) building at around 8:10 a.m. The blast occurred on the first day of heat season, when boilers are turned on for the first time since the spring, according to the mayor’s office.

Authorities mandated a full evacuation while investigating the underlying cause of the incident at 207 Alexander Avenue, with NYCHA Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble saying that boilers are maintained throughout the warmer months.

A New York City Department of Buildings official said the explosion took place at a time when maintenance was being conducted on the boiler system. The building had open violations regarding its heating system, but they were non-safety related.

Lawmakers were not pleased.

“We have to get to the bottom of what happened. We were lucky that this emergency didn’t result in a loss of life, that it didn’t turn into a tragedy. But we can’t be relying on luck to keep our community safe,” state Assemblymember Amanda Septimo said in a press conference. “We send resources down from the state to make sure that boilers get fixed and elevators get replaced. We have to get a clear accounting of what happened and who is responsible, because we cannot leave our tenants to hope that everything is happening the way that it’s supposed to. Today is evidence of the fact that it absolutely is not.”

The NYCHA system as a whole has been notorious for unsafe conditions, especially in terms of mold, lead paint and water quality. Remediations of these hazards have been years in the making, with the city agency announcing progress in recent weeks.

On Friday, NYCHA reached a deal with union contractors on a $93 million contract that will renovate 226 apartments in another Bronx development in Soundview.

And on Thursday, the agency announced it had locked in a $272.6 million loan to fund a Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) project to renovate 800 units across four buildings at Metro North Plaza and Gaylord White Houses in Manhattan.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.