New York’s Bravest snuffed out a blaze in a Ridge Boulevard apartment on Nov. 20 — shortly after workers from gas company National Grid left the flat.
The Fire Department said the fire broke out in the building between 70th and 71st streets at 4:39 pm, and smoke-eaters contained the flames in less than half an hour. No one was hospitalized.
National Grid confirmed that its employees had been working in the basement of the residential complex, and had then gone through the building re-igniting pilot lights in the apartments. The gas supplier said its workers had left the affected apartment shortly before the flare-up.
Fire marshals could not confirm who left the stove on or when, but concluded that the cause of the fire was combustible materials that had been stored inside the stove.
FDNY officials stressed that stoves should not be used as storage.
