Bronx Jury Awards $183 Million After City's Removal of Safety Ropes Trapped Six Firefighters in 2005 Blaze

On the morning of January 23, 2005, six FDNY firefighters became trapped on the fourth floor of a burning, illegally subdivided tenement at 236 East 178th Street in the Bronx's Morris Heights neighborhood. With fire cutting off the stairwell and no usable fire escape reachable, they had no choice but to jump from windows roughly 40 feet above the ground. The day became known inside the department as 'Black Sunday.'

Lieutenant Curtis Meyran and Firefighter John Bellew died from injuries sustained in the fall. Firefighter Joseph DiBernardo survived but suffered debilitating physical and emotional damage; he died six years later, in 2011, from those injuries. Firefighters Gene Stolowski, Brendan Cawley, and Jeff Cool each sustained severe, permanent injuries.

The FDNY had phased out the issuance of personal safety ropes in 2000, citing bulk and low usage rates. Attorney Vito Cannavo of Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas and Cannavo argued at trial that this decision was the proximate cause of the catastrophe. 'Had the six firefighters had the available use of those ropes at the time, no one would have died that day,' Cannavo told reporters after the verdict. The department reinstated the practice of issuing ropes by October 2005 and equipped firefighters with an escape rope-and-hook system beginning in 2006.

A Bronx jury deliberated and on February 22, 2016, returned a verdict of $183 million in total damages. The jury apportioned 80% of fault to the City of New York and 20% to the building's owners, whose code violations had contributed to fire spread. The city's Law Department disputed the apportionment, contending the landlord's violations were the primary cause, and indicated it was considering an appeal.

Rather than face an appellate process that could reduce the award, the plaintiffs resolved the claim against the city for $29.5 million in September 2016. Combined with a separate agreement reached with the building's owners around the time of the verdict, total compensation to the families and injured firefighters reached approximately $80 million. Cannavo said the families chose resolution over prolonged litigation: 'They wanted to find some peace in their lives and put this behind them.'