Apartment Fires in NYC

There was a fire in Bushwick recently in which someone died because she was afraid to jump out of the window. This is a really sad story because the building shouldn't have been occupied in the first place as it didn't meet building standards. This was another case of likely arson in a building that was known to have connections to drugs. http://bushwickbk.com/2010/01/06/55-harrison-fire-a-preventable-tragedy/#more-3821

I have only two choices in the event of a fire: the fire escape, which is located in the back of our row house building, or exiting from my second story bedroom window at the front of the building. It all depends on where the fire is located as to which route I will be taking.

My super told me the fire escape is used for one purpose, and that is to get out of the apartment in case of fires. It is not to be used for storing anything, unless what is stored does not infringe on the movement of people, who need to use it. When I hung my laundry on the fire escape once, my landlord yelled and told me to not do that. I left it there for a couple of hours. Thankfully it was hot that day so the clothes dried quickly.