Task Force had 95 Highview Road on Watch List Before Fire

On October 23, firefighter responded to an emergency at 95 Highview Road in the Town of Ramapo. It wasnโ€™t the first time emergency services had noticed the building.

โ€œItโ€™s ironic that the building at 95 Highview Road is part of the 95-97 Highview Road complex, which the Rockland County Illegal Housing Task Force has already reported to the NY State Codes Division,โ€ said John Kryger, Task Force chairman. โ€œThe Task Force was in a meeting when we received the initial fire report and remembered it was one of the addresses we gave to the state.โ€

Initial reports from fire authorities on the scene stated there were no smoke detectors immediately found in the building. The building, which is reported to be a caretaker rental, must have smoke alarms by state and county law, as do all rental units.

โ€œThe state Codes Division asked us for a list of properties in Rockland in which we believe the state fire and building codes are not and have not been enforced,โ€ Kryger said. โ€œThe school at 97 Highview was one of them. It was an illegal school on a former one-family home which has been cited by the town (Ramapo) but continues to operate as it seeks tax-exempt status. If this fire had occurred at 3 a.m. instead of 3 p.m., the fire departments would be pulling out bodies from that rental unit, never mind the school.โ€

Neighbors across the street said they counted almost 150 students being evacuated from the adjacent school, which is only supposed to have 70 or 75 students.

โ€œRamapo is a ticking time bomb and this fire is just the tip of the iceberg,โ€ said Kryger. โ€œWeโ€™re getting nothing from the town, the supervisor and building officials but lip service in an election year and frankly Iโ€™m sick of it. The only one who seems to care is the townโ€™s head fire inspector. If the town is going to continue with its policy of granting permissions after the fact and ignoring violations, itโ€™s time for a higher authority to step in. And asking for court fines of $5,000 is fine, if they are ever paid, which is the townโ€™s responsibility to collect.

โ€œIโ€™m putting the Town of Ramapo on notice. Clean up your act before you are party to a mass fatal fire. Stop playing politics with peopleโ€™s lives.โ€

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