Fire official: Violations issued to owner of Hempstead apartment building evacuated for gas leaks

Numerous violations have been issued to the owner of a Hempstead apartment building evacuated Wednesday, leaving nearly 100 homeless, after carbon monoxide was found to be leaking from illegally installed heaters, according to a Nassau fire official.

The owner has been cited for allegedly failing to provide smoke and carbon monoxide alarms as required; electrical violations; obstructed exit; and failure to provide portable fire extinguishers, Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Michael F. Uttaro said. 

Twenty-eight people from the four-story building at 545 Fulton Ave. reported feeling ill shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday, including nine with high levels of carbon monoxide in their blood. A mother and her toddler were found passed out in a backroom, a fire official said.

Nearly 100 residents were forced to leave the building, which Hempstead Village officials have said was deemed uninhabitable until all safety and code violation issues have been addressed.

Hempstead firefighters found illegal heaters in each of the building’s units, village officials said Wednesday. The units house many Latino and lower-income families, officials said.

Officials have said the building did not have required working carbon monoxide detectors, and an existing boiler heating system had been broken for a lengthy period of time. Many of the heaters had been installed in closets or cabinets without a permit along with improper plumbing, insulation and natural gas hookups, according to one village official.

Fire officials said some air readings taken outside the building registered carbon monoxide levels of 140 parts per million.

The website for carbon monoxide detector manufacturer Kidde said its alarms will sound after 3½ hours of continuous exposure to levels of 50 parts per million, which it said is considered low. It said that continuous exposure at 150 parts per million would trigger alarms in as little as 10 minutes.

Exposure to a level of 50 parts per million for eight hours would create feelings attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning, the website said.

Records show the building is owned by Pebble Lane LLC, and village officials identified the landlord as Benjamin Azizian of Roslyn. Azizian could not be reached for comment immediately following the incident, and residents at the Pebble Lane home where the corporation is listed in Roslyn refused to open the door Wednesday and said Benjamin Azizian was not home.

Azizian could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”