Queens school waiting nearly 2 years for fire alarms

HOWARD BEACH, N.Y. (WABC) -- "You had to worry every single day ... if your child was going to be okay."

Parent Jennifer Adinolfi describes the fear she and many parents shared. It's been a long wait at P.S. 207 in Queens more than 22 months. And ever since the school's fire alarms went silent during Superstorm Sandy fears of a fire have been constant.

"Every time the school would call, I would get scared like 'what's going on?'" said parent Lina Elshawari.

Last August, frustrated parents alerted 7 On Your Side, outraged when they found out instead of fixing the fire alarm system over the summer, the city was paying $13,000 per week for a dozen guards dubbed "fire watchmen" to monitor the school for smoke or fire.

Last September, we asked then-NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott about the watchmen. We found out taxpayers were also funding these smoke sniffers at three other public schools: P.S. 105, P.S. 256, and Beach Channel High School. That's when Walcott made a pledge to parents, "We will have the bids out and work done over the December break."

But the promise to fast track the alarms disappeared like smoke. And the holiday came and went with the fire alarms never installed.

"The city of New York is disgusting," yelled Adinolfi.

But a week before the first day of school THIS year, parents again dreaded sending their kids into the school. We found the alarms were installed over the summer but never properly inspected by the FDNY.

However, just a day after we contacted the DOE parents got some good news. The fire alarms passed a proper inspection. Just in time for the first day of school.

"I am so happy that's it done i really am ecstatic," said Elshawari.

More than 22 months after the storm, watchmen out and working alarms, in.

The NYC DOE also told us the fire alarms at the three other schools were also finished and inspected. A D.O.E. rep said it took them 8 months to bid out and then build. But why it took more than 22 months? We never got an answer to that question. The kicker? The cost. To pay for the fire watchmen at PS 207 alone - according to the D.O.E. cost a half a million dollars. Paid for from federal taxpayer dollars.