An obscure city law requiring self-closing doors in residential buildings is garnering attention in light of this past weekend’s horrific fire in a Bronx apartment tower.

Passed by the City Council in 2018, the law mandated that building owners in the five boroughs ensure that all doors in their properties are self-closing if they provide access to corridors or stairwells.

The legislation, which imposed a July 31, 2021, deadline for the citywide requirement, came to fruition a few months after an apartment building fire in the Bronx killed 12 people. That fire spread throughout the building after a door to the unit where it started was left open — a scenario similar to this past Sunday’s blaze that killed 17 residents in another Bronx apartment building.

Twin Parks has a history of malfunctioning self-closing doors, according to city records. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

Most of the victims in Sunday’s inferno died from suffocation as thick black smoke billowed out from a second-floor apartment whose self-closing front door stayed open after a fire erupted from a malfunctioning space heater in the unit’s bedroom, according to FDNY investigators. Making matters worse, another self-closing door to a 15th-floor stairwell in the building also stayed ajar, creating a flue-like effect for the smoke to spread.

Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), who introduced the 2018 bill, said his measure was designed to prevent the type of fire that devastated residents of the Twin Parks North West building at 333 E. 181st St. on Sunday morning.

“The point of this bill was to make buildings as safe as possible and have the self-closing mechanism on every door,” Borelli said in an interview in his City Hall office Tuesday.

But Borelli stopped short of pointing fingers at the owner of Twin Parks for the malfunctioning doors that exacerbated Sunday’s tragedy.

“I don’t want to blame the landlord. It sounds like they had the self-closing doors in the building. That part is not in question, the other apartments had them,” Borelli said. “Why they malfunctioned or why they were broken is a question that needs to get answered by the fire marshals.”

The Twin Parks North West building in the Bronx, on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

Twin Parks, which is currently owned by a consortium of real estate companies called Bronx Park Phase III Preservation, has a history of malfunctioning self-closing doors, according to city records.

Just last month, the owner — whose head manager, Rick Gropper, is a member of Mayor Adams’ transition team committee on housing — received a complaint from a sixth-floor tenant whose apartment door was not self-closing, records show. Between 2013 and 2019, city Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspectors dinged the building six times for issues with self-closing doors, according to a database maintained by the agency.

Kelly Magee, a spokeswoman for Twin Parks’ owner, said all complaints about self-closing doors in the building had been “rectified” before Sunday.

It remains unclear why the self-closing doors malfunctioned during the fire, and an FDNY investigation is ongoing.

On Monday, Jan. 10, New York City Mayor Eric Adams surveys the damage in an apartment building where there was a fatal fire a day earlier. (Office of the Mayor)

Borelli’s bill can result in a $150 fine for every malfunctioning self-closing door if a building owner is at fault, with an additional $125 for every day a violation remains outstanding.

Adams, who has not commented on his connection to Gropper since Sunday’s fire, suggested in a Monday press conference that tenants can learn a lesson from the tragedy.

“Close the door, close the door. ... We’re going to double down on that message,” he said. “Muscle memory is everything and if we can drill that in, we can save lives by closing the doors, not only in the city but across the entire globe. This painful moment can turn into a purposeful moment as we send the right message of something as simple as closing the door.”

In an appearance on La Mega radio Tuesday morning, though, Adams said “appropriate action” will be taken if the owner of Twin Parks is found at fault for any of the malfunctioning doors. He did not specify what shape that action would take.

Copyright © 2021, New York Daily News

Copyright © 2021, New York Daily News