DELI'S GAS GENERATOR SICKENS TENANTS ABOVE
Utility had cut off store owner for unpaid bills

Monday, May 16, 2011
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Carbon monoxide detectors may have averted a disaster for five Jersey City families whose three-story apartment building filled with the deadly gas on Saturday night, Fire Director Armando Roman said.

Ten people were taken to the hospital after complaining of symptoms associated with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Jersey City firefighters were called at 9:01 p.m. after reports of a gasoline smell at the apartment building that has five residential units above a grocery store at 446 Bergen Ave. and arrived three minutes later and found that residents had evacuated the building, reports said.

Firefighters detected very high levels of carbon monoxide throughout the building and found a gasoline generator in the basement with several extension cords attached that ran to the first floor grocery store through a hole in the ceiling.

Officials learned that the store owner had put the generator in the basement at around noon that day - a few hours after PSE&G cut his electricity for not paying his energy bill.

"This had all the hallmarks of a disaster," Roman said. "Apparently the store owner did not want to lose the merchandise in the refrigerators."

The residents told firefighters they called 911 after smelling gasoline and hearing their carbon monoxide detectors sounding, and then evacuated the building, officials said.

One woman told firefighters she left the building after noticing her child was dizzy and disoriented and smelling the odor of gasoline.

Six adults and four children who complained of symptoms associated with carbon monoxide poisoning were taken to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment and observation.

The gasoline vapor in the basement also produced a risk of explosion, Roman said.

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Thats good that you were alerted but did they fix furnace ?

This one is Bergen I think... The 446 might just be a coincidence as I don't think Baldwin place has a storefront?


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Is it 446 Baldwin or 446 Bergen. It says both in the articles...??

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My place was never provided with a smoke alarm or co2 detector.. I went out and bought a Smoke/co2 alarm and it came in handy because of shoddy furnace installation was filling up the apt with co2 and since I had one it alerted us.

When are they going to get around with charging the landlord (of the original case in this thread) with manslaughter?

10 people taken to hospital due to elevated carbon monoxide levels at Jersey City building

Sunday, May 15, 2011, 6:36 PM
By The Jersey Journal

Ten people were taken to the hospital last night due to high carbon monoxide levels at 446 Bergen Ave. in Jersey City.

Some 10 residents of 446 Bergen Ave. in Jersey City were taken to the hospital last night, suffering wooziness, dizziness, and other symptoms having to do with being exposed to elevated levels of carbon monoxide, officials said today.

If the building wasn't equipped with carbon monoxide alarms that sounded, the deadly odorless gas would have killed these residents, Fire Director Armando said today.
Residents at the building heard the detectors sound at about 9 p.m. and called police, Roman said.

They were immediately evacuated and firefighters found elevated carbon monoxide levels throughout the building, which consists of a ground floor grocery store and five residential units above, Roman said.

No update was immediately available on the six adults and four children who were taken to the hospital. Other residents did not need medical attention.

The problem stemmed from the fact that the electric service to the grocery store was shut off. But instead of closing up shop, the store owner hooked up a gasoline powered generator at about noon yesterday. The generator was emitting carbon monoxide gas, Roman said, adding that the store owner was given fines.

This is second time in as many months carbon monoxide has been in the news in Jersey City.

Last month, a 24-year-old woman died the day after she moved into an apartment at 446 Baldwin Ave. from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a damaged water heater vent. Authorities are investigating if a man who died at the same residence in March may have also died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The building had no carbon monoxide alarms.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Multiple violations were issued yesterday at three Jersey City buildings owned by the landlord who is facing $41,000 in fines at a fourth building where two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Both people died a month apart in an apartment where mandatory sensors for the deadly gas were not installed.

"He knows from his real-estate experience that his incumbent responsibility is for the safety and welfare of his tenants, and it is unfortunate that he continues in defiance of the law," Fire Director Armando Roman said of Farouk Tadrous.

"We have a responsibility to make sure that he is in compliance, which is why we are taking him to court."

On April 3, Rosaria Ferreras-Matos, 24, moved into an apartment in Tadrous' building at 446 Baldwin Ave., where she was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning the next day, officials said. Police then expedited toxicology results on Arthur Galloway, 48, who died in the apartment on March 12, and it was learned he died of the same cause, officials said.

Police found there were no carbon monoxide sensors in the five-unit building and the cause of the lethal levels of carbon monoxide appears to have been a damaged hot water heater vent, officials said.

Yesterday inspectors went to Tadrous' apartment buildings at 50 Beacon St. as well as those at 39 and 41 Laidlaw Ave., which are located beside the building in which Farouk lives at Baldwin and Laidlaw.

Nine violations were cited at 39 Laidlaw and 20 at 41 Laidlaw, including failure to have carbon monoxide sensors in common areas and some other places where they are required, officials said. The hot water heaters in both buildings were shut down by Public Service Electric & Gas because they were not ventilated properly, Roman said.

At 50 Beacon St., 11 violations were issued, including for smoke alarms that were not working and carbon monoxide sensors that were missing from some areas where they are required.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said his office is looking into Tadrous' history of violations.

"No criminal charges have been filed at this point, and we are awaiting the results of the code enforcement investigation," DeFazio said. "When the code enforcement aspect of it is complete, we will review everything."

Tadrous owns additional buildings in Jersey City and inspectors will target them as early as today. He must appear in Jersey City Municipal Court on April 28 to respond to the violations. Tadrous declined to comment yesterday when asked about the deaths at 446 Baldwin and the ongoing inspections.

Another Jersey City story breaks through to the New york news cycle. I woke up today to 1010 WINS reporting on this story as the Jersey City Death House.
This is why we can't have nice things!

ANNNNNNDDDD...

Don't wait for some crap landlord or property manager to install these things. if existing alarms fail a self test, or aren't present, buy them, and install em yourself.

way cheaper than a casket!!!

geez, i can't stand this story. it makes me sad and mad, and i hate that!

This is a sad and very possible result of a bad installation of either a hot water heater or boiler. I am not sure what the investigation will show but more than a carbon monoxide detector , proper installation of systems are a matter of life and death.
More often than not we see people looking for shortcuts, not taking out permits, and finding a local handyman to install systems that require a license master plumber to install. Before we go blaming the inspectors a landlord or owner is responsible to hire the proper person and THEN the inspectors would know this work was even done.

People complain all day about plumbers prices, and how easy it should be to install these things. Everytime my dad goes to install a system he knows he is responsible for people's lives! This is an eyeopener for people who want to do things themselves...Saving a few hundred dollars can cost you your life savings and time in jail.

Let's be careful and I hope that the family of this girl can find some consolation. My prayers are with them.

Check your fire alarms, carbon monoxide and when you see a handyman ask to see his credentials!!

From NJ.com

An unopened box of carbon-monoxide detectors was found in the basement of the Baldwin Avenue apartment building where two residents have died of carbon-monoxide poisoning since last March, according to a city official.

Fire Director Armando Roman said the discovery added "salt to the injury" following the death of Rosaria Ferreras-Matos, 24, who was found dead at 466 Baldwin Ave. yesterday.

"Do you believe this? Unopened, never disseminated," Roman said. "Does that just turn your stomach?"

Ferreras-Matos had just moved into the apartment on Sunday. After her death, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office reopened the investigation of the death of Arthur Galloway, a resident of 446 Baldwin Ave. who died on March 12, 2010.

Originally deemed not suspicious, the medical examiner now believes Galloway's death also resulted from carbon-monoxide poisoning, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio. A third death of a resident of the building is also being investigated, DeFazio said.

According to Roman, Ferreras-Matos and Galloway lived in the same unit of 446 Baldwin Ave., a five-unit dwelling on the corner of Baldwin and Laidlaw avenues.

Late this afternoon, fire officials evacuated residents from the building so the officials could determine the source of the carbon monoxide.

Roman said he believes the source will be a poorly installed hot-water heater.

This is unnerving. And it's an excellent reminder to all of us to make sure carbon monoxide detectors are installed in our places. I asked my landlord to replace a broken one 18 months ago, and I let it slide.

Wow. That is really messed up. Shouldn't there be Carbon Monoxide alarms installed in the apt? I thought that was NJ law? Very very sad...

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No need to get snippy. The first person who died was an elderly woman with no indication of CO2 exposure. The second person who died had his cause of death connected to health problems he was suffering.

It was just revealed that the young woman indeed died of CO2 poisoning. The man who died in 2010 just had further medical testing done which indicated another case of CO2 poisoning. They are now looking in to the first woman's cause of death more deeply.

I stand corrected if that makes you feel vindicated.

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yeah it's definitely just a coincidence. healthy people drop dead constantly whether poisonous gases are involved or not.

There is absolutely no evidence presented that the other two deaths were deemed suspicious or unusual by the medical examiner. Creepy, yes. Coincidental, maybe. Convinced they are all somehow connected due to the negligence of the landlord or the city? Not yet...

The city and the fire department should be sued by the family of the second and third victim.

Why was nothing done after the first death?

Kill someone once, shame on the landlord; Kill someone twice, shame on the city; Kill someone three times, well that's Jersey City for ya.

The Landlord better be running for the hills! If it were my daughter that this happened to, I'd be putting this piece of sh!t down. But slooooowly!!!

View Larger Map
View Larger Map 24-year-old Jersey City woman found dead in apartment she'd just moved into; landlord given 15 violations, and heating and hot water heaters shut off; other tenants say third death in year Tuesday, April 05, 2011 By MICHAELANGELO CONTE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER A 24-year-old Jersey City woman was found dead inside her studio apartment yesterday - the third person to die at the building in the past year, according to fire officials who interviewed tenants at the building. Responding to the premises at 446 Baldwin Ave. off Laidlaw Avenue shortly after the dead woman was discovered yesterday afternoon, Jersey City firefighters shut off all heating units and water heaters at the building, which were installed without proper permits, officials said. The dead woman moved into the five-unit building yesterday and was found dead on her bed with most of her belongings still unpacked, Fire Director Armando Roman said, adding that the owner, Sarouk Padrous of Laidlaw Avenue, was issued 15 violations after her body was found. "PSE&G has shut down all gas heaters and water heaters in the building because no permits had been issued for them and it is not known if they were the reason for the death," Roman said. He said neighbors told investigators a tenant of the building died last month and another died about nine months ago. Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said his office is not releasing the woman's name at this point and an autopsy will be performed today at the state Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Newark. "All I know at this point is that there was no signs of visible trauma to the young woman," DeFazio said last night. "The Jersey City Police Department responded to the scene first and then the County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad was called, but right now this is not classified as a homicide." An autopsy will be able to detect if carbon monoxide levels in the woman's system were normal. "It's a gas thing," speculated Rene Figarola 31, a tenant at the building who believes the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. "The first person had the same issue . and he looked perfectly healthy." "The first death was about nine months ago . and then a tenant died last month under similar circumstances," he said. The Fire Department has issued Padrous 15 violations for improper ventilation of the hot water heaters, multiple non-functioning smoke detectors, rubbish in the basement and holes in the basement ceiling that could facilitate the upward spread of a fire, Roman said. Padrous could not be reached for comment last night. Journal staff writers Ashley Strain and Adam Holstein contributed to this story.