Fire Investigators: Cause of Peekskill Apartment Building Fire Remains Undetermined

The cause of the March 21 apartment building fire on Lakeview Dr. in Peekskill remains undetermined, according to Westchester County fire investigators.

Unfortunately for investigators, the building sustained so much damage that the fire's cause may never be known.

"Investigators remained on scene during fire operations, in hopes of examining the interior of the structure," reads an investigative narrative from the county Cause and Origin Team. "However we realized that this would not be possible due to the significant damage and collapse of the structure."

The fire originated in a second-floor apartment on  the southwest side of the 14-unit building, according to the investigation report. The son of the tenant registered to the apartment left his bedroom to use the bathroom after playing an electric piano.

When he came back to the room, he saw a fire burning on the table the piano was on. After failing to extinguish it with water, the son got his mother, called 911 and exited the building.

The son told investigators he was smoking prior to the fire, but he was unable to recall the exact time.

Investigators said it is possible that the fire was caused by unattended smoking materials in the bedroom igniting other combustible materials.

"However, without being able to further examine the structure, we cannot rule out out other possible causes," the report states. "There was no indication of any suspicious activity involved in the cause of this fire. The cause of the fire is being left undetermined at this time."

Peekskill firefighters had a tough time containing the fire after a secondary water main broke while they were accessing a hydrant in the area of Highland Avenue and Garfield Street.

It is unclear why the main broke.

The fire eventually reached the top of the building, made its way to a shared cockloft and destroyed the rest of the structure. The building was eventually razed as a safety precaution.

Brian Havranek, the acting city manager, said the officials are currently working on a timeline of events beginning with the fire and carrying through to the water main breaks that followed. Havranek said that report should be completed by next week.

Alonzo Thompson, one of the tenants of the building, said he was frustrated by the lack of answers during Monday’s Common Council meeting.

He also wanted to know why firefighters tried to draw water from the hydrant on Garfield Avenue instead of using hydrants that are closer to the fire.

"The hydrants I’m talking about are closer to the structure than Garfield," Thompson said. "They’re on the hill."

Fire Chief Robert Fiorio firefighters said the hydrant on Garfield Avenue is a feed hydrant that was used to connect to another hydrant, before getting pumped to the top of the hill. Fiorio said the firefighters also used a hydrant in front of the building.

First Assistant Fire Chief Vinny Malaspina, who was joined by a number members from the Peekskill fire department, said he was frustrated by the criticism his department has received, including some of the comments that have been made on this site.

“Let me tell you something about firefighting,” Malaspina said. “Anybody in this world, man or woman, that put 90 pounds of gear on their body, goes into a dark hot building—and it’s probably the closest thing you’ll get to hell on earth—and crawls through there to either save a life or save a building is a hero in my book.”

Fiorio said a lot of the members of his department have shared Malaspina’s sentiments.

“They feel that they have taken an unfair beating in the press when they did everything feasible to save that building....it was not a good day on our behalf either,” Fiorio said. "We're trained to rectify a situation and we feel as if our hands are tied. We feel as bad as everyone else."