SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
When working as a real estate developer in New York in the 1990s, President Donald Trump lobbied against a bill that would require all high-rise residential apartments to have sprinklers installed. On Saturday, one person was killed in a fire at Trump Tower. (Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
Trump Aggressively Fought Sprinkler System Law That Could Have Saved Man in Trump Tower Fire
While working as a powerful real estate developer in the 1990s, the president claimed he couldn't afford to install sprinkler systems in his high-rise apartment buildings
Apr 09, 2018
Though President Donald Trump has spent his career boasting of his wealth, he claimed in the 1990s that outfitting apartments in his residential high-rise buildings with sprinkler systems would be too expensive--and lobbied against regulations that may have been able to save the life of a man who was killed in a fire at Trump Tower on Saturday.
One person was killed and six firefighters were injured in the apartment fire that started on the 50th floor of the luxury building in New York. The apartment did not have a sprinkler system.
As a powerful real estate developer, Trump aggressively fought against a regulation that would have required all New York City high-rise residential buildings to have sprinklers installed. Although he claimed in 2000 to be worth $5 billion and others estimated he held about $1.6 billion, the New York Post reported in 1999 that Trump felt he couldn't afford to follow the safety measure.
According to the Huffington Post, he donated funds to the City Council speaker and personally called a dozen council members to convince them to vote against the rule.
When a sprinkler law was eventually passed, Trump was exempted from having to follow it at Trump Tower because the rule only stipulated that high-rises built after 1999 had to have sprinklers installed.
After the fire, the president tweeted that Trump Tower was "well-built" and made no mention of the deceased man.
\u201cFire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1523140942
Critics on social media slammed Trump's refusal to take safety precautions in his buildings.
\u201cTrump Tower doesn\u2019t have a sprinkler system because Trump was too cheap to install one.\n\nHe also fought against the 1999 NYC legislation requiring all new buildings to have sprinklers. \n\nWhy? Because Trump cares more about $ than people. https://t.co/gpMbyJVXMv\u201d— Nate Lerner (@Nate Lerner) 1523214970
\u201cTo review: There was a fire in the residential section Trump Tower where there are no sprinklers, in part because Trump lobbied against regs requiring them. Someone died, which Trump didn\u2019t mention, instead praising the safety of his building. https://t.co/KMBe7O6Im7\u201d— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1523204043
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Though President Donald Trump has spent his career boasting of his wealth, he claimed in the 1990s that outfitting apartments in his residential high-rise buildings with sprinkler systems would be too expensive--and lobbied against regulations that may have been able to save the life of a man who was killed in a fire at Trump Tower on Saturday.
One person was killed and six firefighters were injured in the apartment fire that started on the 50th floor of the luxury building in New York. The apartment did not have a sprinkler system.
As a powerful real estate developer, Trump aggressively fought against a regulation that would have required all New York City high-rise residential buildings to have sprinklers installed. Although he claimed in 2000 to be worth $5 billion and others estimated he held about $1.6 billion, the New York Post reported in 1999 that Trump felt he couldn't afford to follow the safety measure.
According to the Huffington Post, he donated funds to the City Council speaker and personally called a dozen council members to convince them to vote against the rule.
When a sprinkler law was eventually passed, Trump was exempted from having to follow it at Trump Tower because the rule only stipulated that high-rises built after 1999 had to have sprinklers installed.
After the fire, the president tweeted that Trump Tower was "well-built" and made no mention of the deceased man.
\u201cFire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1523140942
Critics on social media slammed Trump's refusal to take safety precautions in his buildings.
\u201cTrump Tower doesn\u2019t have a sprinkler system because Trump was too cheap to install one.\n\nHe also fought against the 1999 NYC legislation requiring all new buildings to have sprinklers. \n\nWhy? Because Trump cares more about $ than people. https://t.co/gpMbyJVXMv\u201d— Nate Lerner (@Nate Lerner) 1523214970
\u201cTo review: There was a fire in the residential section Trump Tower where there are no sprinklers, in part because Trump lobbied against regs requiring them. Someone died, which Trump didn\u2019t mention, instead praising the safety of his building. https://t.co/KMBe7O6Im7\u201d— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1523204043
Though President Donald Trump has spent his career boasting of his wealth, he claimed in the 1990s that outfitting apartments in his residential high-rise buildings with sprinkler systems would be too expensive--and lobbied against regulations that may have been able to save the life of a man who was killed in a fire at Trump Tower on Saturday.
One person was killed and six firefighters were injured in the apartment fire that started on the 50th floor of the luxury building in New York. The apartment did not have a sprinkler system.
As a powerful real estate developer, Trump aggressively fought against a regulation that would have required all New York City high-rise residential buildings to have sprinklers installed. Although he claimed in 2000 to be worth $5 billion and others estimated he held about $1.6 billion, the New York Post reported in 1999 that Trump felt he couldn't afford to follow the safety measure.
According to the Huffington Post, he donated funds to the City Council speaker and personally called a dozen council members to convince them to vote against the rule.
When a sprinkler law was eventually passed, Trump was exempted from having to follow it at Trump Tower because the rule only stipulated that high-rises built after 1999 had to have sprinklers installed.
After the fire, the president tweeted that Trump Tower was "well-built" and made no mention of the deceased man.
\u201cFire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1523140942
Critics on social media slammed Trump's refusal to take safety precautions in his buildings.
\u201cTrump Tower doesn\u2019t have a sprinkler system because Trump was too cheap to install one.\n\nHe also fought against the 1999 NYC legislation requiring all new buildings to have sprinklers. \n\nWhy? Because Trump cares more about $ than people. https://t.co/gpMbyJVXMv\u201d— Nate Lerner (@Nate Lerner) 1523214970
\u201cTo review: There was a fire in the residential section Trump Tower where there are no sprinklers, in part because Trump lobbied against regs requiring them. Someone died, which Trump didn\u2019t mention, instead praising the safety of his building. https://t.co/KMBe7O6Im7\u201d— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1523204043
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.