Construction Maison

In January 2015, a massive fire in Edgewater, N.J., demonstrated that buildings with sprinkler systems are not always protected against fire. The blaze destroyed 240 residential apartments and displaced 500 people from the Edgewater Avalon apartment building . The fire began when a maintenance worker’s plumbing torch accidentally ignited wooden wall studs , and flames quickly spread throughout the structure. Fifteen minutes passed before workers called the fire department . In that time, the fire spread throughout combustible void spaces (between walls and floors) and soon engulfed the building. Emergency personnel from 35 different cities and towns ultimately responded to the incident. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. Immediately after the blaze, people asked why the fire was so devastating. The building had sprinklers, after all. Shouldn’t the sprinkler system have extinguished the fire? To make matters worse , this building had already burned down 15 years prior during i...

UPDATE: Luxury Apartment Complex Inferno Determined to Be Accidental A massive fire that swept through a luxury New Jersey apartment complex Wednesday afternoon continued to burn 12 hours after it began, causing nearby schools and roads to close Thursday. Firefighters struggled for hours to quench the flames at Avalon on the Hudson on Russell Avenue in Edgewater, 15 years after an earlier blaze burned the same complex to the ground as it was being built. "We left in what we had," displaced resident Tamara Talbott said. "We got the kids and the dogs. Our cars are all underneath. There's nothing left.”  Fire Rips Through Luxury Apartment Complex in NJ Luxury Apartment Complex in NJ" src="http://media.nbcnewyork.com/images/620*349/edgewater+fire+2.jpg" /> The New York Post reports Yankees announcer John Sterling was among those displaced by the fire. The fire was mostly contained by Wednesday night , with no loss of life or major injuries report...

EDGEWATER, New Jersey (WABC) -- Following a devastating apartment complex fire in Edgewater more than two years ago, New Jersey lawmakers are working to make future construction safer . Two bills have been introduced in the New Jersey State Assembly that are aimed at improving fire safety and building construction codes . The proposed legislation would increase sprinklers in concealed combustible spaces and limit the use of lightweight wood construction . "Without this, as you saw here in Edgewater, there is no chance," Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said. "So that's why it's so important to get this legislation moving quickly ." The January 2005 fire left hundreds of people at the Avalon apartment complex homeless . Officials said the fire spread so quickly and was virtually unstoppable because the building was made of lightweight materials with no firewalls. Photos: Massive fire tears through Edgewater apartment building However, with a recen...