Councilman Proposes Sprinkler Legislation After Trump Tower Fire

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A New York city councilman wants to end sprinkler exemptions for older buildings after a Trump Tower resident died in a massive blaze Saturday night.

City Councilman Roberty Cornegy, Jr. intends to draft new fire safety legislation — which would require buildings like Trump Tower to be retrofitted with new fire safety systems — after Todd Brassner's 50th floor residence became engulfed in flames.

The exact details of the proposed legislation are still unknown, but a spokesman for Cornegy said it could include any residential building with four or more units, or any building taller than 40 feet. The legislation would expand on a 1999 law that required all new residential buildings with multiple households to be built with sprinkler systems. When that law was passed, older buildings such as Trump Tower were exempt.

The councilman's announcement comes two days after a four-alarm fire at Trump Tower killed one resident and injured six firefighters. Trump Tower, located on Fifth Avenue between West 56th and 57th streets, was built 16 years before sprinklers were mandated by the city and its residential floors were never retrofitted.

On Saturday, a four-alarm fire broke out at 67-year-old Todd Brassner's 50th floor residence at Trump Tower. Images and video of President Donald Trump's namesake skyscraper showed fire billowing out of windows high above Fifth Avenue.

"Fires, especially those that break out thousands of feet above street level, require more than passive solutions," Cornegy said at a press conference Monday. "For that reason I believe it's important that we require existing residential with sprinkler systems - they have the potential to prevent the loss of life like Todd Brassner's"

Fire safety has been a priority of Cornegy's since he became chair of the housing and buildings committee, and the Trump Tower fire provides a good opportunity to introduce new legislation while people are paying attention to the issue of sprinklers, a spokesman for the councilman said.

Brassner was a prominent Andy Warhol art dealer who was so familiar with Warhol that the artist talked about his encounters with the collector multiple times in his autobiography, "The Andy Warhol Diaries." Warhol even painted a portrait of Brassner, a photo of which can still be seen on Brassner's Facebook page.

The Trump Tower resident bought his 50th floor unit in 1996. He had been trying unsuccessfully to sell the apartment since the 2016 presidential election, after which Trump Tower saw a massive increase of security while the president was living in his penthouse, the New York Times reported.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization did not respond to Patch's request for comment.

Photo by FDNY