Movie Set Exacerbated Deadly Harlem Fire, FDNY Report Says

HARLEM, NY — The presence of flammable materials and a fake wall on the movie set where a fatal 2018 fire broke out in Harlem hindered firefighters' ability to battle the blaze and contributed to the death of a 15-year FDNY veteran, according to a department report on the fire.

Firefighters were unaware of modifications made to turn the basement of a building on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 149th Street into a movie set while responding to a 5-alarm fire that broke out on March 22, 2018, the New York Daily News first reported. False plywood walls covered in materials that act as an accelerant hid the severity of the fire, causing confusion when dark smoke overtook firefighters, according to the completed FDNY investigation into the blaze.

Michael Davidson, 37, was assigned to the nozzle when he got separated from firefighters inside the building and struggled to find an exit while shrouded in the black smoke, fire officials said.

"The movie production placed highly combustible materials on the walls throughout the first floor," the FDNY report reads. "These movie set walls created voids which initially concealed fire. The first units were unaware that these false walls were not (part) of the fire building."

Davidson, initially thinking he was leading his group to fight a small fire, navigated through the movie set to the building's cellar to spray water on what he thought was the source of the fire, according to the report. He became trapped when the fire hidden by the movie set's fake walls erupted and engulfed the entirety of the basement, according to the report.

Firefighters recovered Davidson's body and he was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, fire officials said. He was a 15-year FDNY veteran of Engine Company 69 in Manhattan and had been cited for bravery and life-saving actions four times in his career, Nigro said.

Heat from a boiler ventilation flue pipe sparked the blaze, the city's fire marshals later announced. Fire marshals also concluded that the building's sprinkler system, which did not activate during the fire, was shut off and that fire-resistant materials were removed from the building's first floor.

The building was being used by Edward Norton and his production company Class 5 Films to shoot an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn." The film's star-studded cast includes Norton, Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin.

Davidson was honored last week at the Harlem firehouse where he worked for his entire 15-year career with the FDNY. The ceremony was attended by Davidson's family, including his wife and their four children–three daughters, ages 8, 4, and 2 and a son, 7. Numerous fire officials and firefighters from Engine Company 69 also attended the event.

Davidson's widow has since sued Norton's production company Class 5 Films for her husband's wrongful death.