Hope, prayer and community were the inspiration for the rally in Inwood, for all of those impacted by a horrible fire in a six-story building a block away, where on Thursday, families are getting back inside their apartment for the first time.
"I was on the first floor where the fire started, apartment 3," said fire victim, Ingrid Japa. "Lucky, because my door was closed there was not much damage to my apartment."
Haunting pictures were released by the FDNY of the singular stairwell at 207 Dyckman St., where three people found themselves trapped in the silo of smoke and flames, including 48-year-old Yolaine Diaz and her 73-year-old mother Ana Mirtha Lantigua.
Eyewitness News spoke to their family on Tuesday.
"The minute they said a mother and her adult daughter, my phone just dropped because I already knew that was my cousin," said the victim's cousin, Ylka Diaz.
Journalist, her mother killed in Inwood apartment fire
The FDNY, on Thursday afternoon, demonstrated the consequences between an open and closed door during a fire, and encouraged New Yorkers to have a plan in place, and try to remember to close their apartment door when fleeing.
"Know the scenarios you're going to face and be ready for them," said FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Dan Flynn. "That's what I would tell people that would panic. If you're prepared, the likelihood of you panicking... much less."
But by law, residential buildings with three or more units are required to be equipped with self-closing doors, which also applies to older buildings, which should have been retrofitted by July 2021.
"Unfortunately, a lot of times, those doors are self-closing, but occupants make some changes within their apartment that will limit the ability for that door to close," Flynn said.
In Fiscal Year 2025, the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation issued more than 72,000 violations related to self-closing doors, and the city spent over $6.7 million repairing the ones not corrected by the owners.
"Recently, we've had inspectors come and make sure that that works, repeatedly week after week on Fridays they would come and check," Japa said.
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