Schumer legislation would require auto shut-off for all space heaters

Legislation requiring self-closing doors at all federally funded and subsidized housing and mandating auto shut-off for space heaters sold nationally could help prevent fires like the one in the Bronx earlier this month that killed 17 people, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.

Speaking outside the apartment building where on Jan. 9 a malfunctioning space heater caused the fire, and self-closing doors failed, sending smoke throughout the 19-story building, Schumer, the Senate majority leader, called the plan his "4-Point Federal Safety Package."

The other two points of his plan would create a fund for sprinklers — which the Bronx building lacked — at federally funded or subsidized housing and expand the federal government's role in investigating fires.

New York City law requires self-closing doors, but the door of the unit where the Bronx fire started failed to close that morning when the occupants fled.

Schumer's news conference Tuesday was attended by several family members of those who died in the blaze, the deadliest in the city since 1990. He said he hopes the legislation, if passed by Congress, averts such fires and their horrific aftermath.

"I still think, almost every hour, of the coffins at the funeral. Especially the little one, the 2-year-old … That sight wrenches your heart. Turns your insides out," Schumer said.

Trying to advance the parallel legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives is Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), whose district includes the apartment building, which is at 333 East 181st St.

Schumer said that under his legislation, the federal government's consumer-products safety regulator would set standards governing when a space heater would need to automatically turn off. He said the cost, whatever it is, would be minimal when balanced against the lives saved.

Torres said that victims of the fire were found on every floor, due to how rapidly the fire spread. All deaths were caused by smoke inhalation.

"Self-closing doors! Something as simple as a self-closing door would have prevented mass casualties. It only takes one open door, only one open stairwell door, to transform a stairwell into a chimney, causing either smoke or fire to spread widely and rapidly throughout the building," he said.

Minutes before the news conference, a locksmith wheeled a door into the building. Asked whether it's self-closing, he said yes.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.