$5 could have ‘prevented’ fire

Att’y: Whyy no kid-safety stove knobs?

Five dollars could have saved 13 lives, according to the lawyer representing victims of December’s deadly Bronx blaze.

Attorney Robert Vilensky, who is preparing a lawsuit against the landlord of the building that went up in flames Dec. 28, says the property owner should have provided child-safety caps for the stove where a child’s fiddling with the knobs set off the inferno.

Vilensky inspected the charred remains of 2363 Prospect Ave. last month with fire and safety experts — and says he found that the majority of the Hotpoint GE stoves in the 26-unit building were so run down that no pressure was required to ignite the gas stoves.

“You could just go like this with your hand and turn them on,” Vilensky said, making a twisting motion with his fingers.

The mother of the 3-year-old boy who sparked the fire while she was in the shower had previously complained to the management company about the loose knobs, Vilensky alleged.

“The child apparently was able to reach up and turn [it] on because most gas stoves, you have to push in and turn,” Vilensky explained. “Through time, through age, through usage, they become loose to the point that you don’t have to push in very much, if at all,” Vilensky said.

The mom, Rita Fuger, did not return a message.

Building owner D& A Equities could have spent just $5 to install childproof safety caps on knobs that prevent the accidental ignition of stoves, Vilensky said.

“Clearly this is something that would have prevented the fire,” Vilensky alleged.

Thirteen people ultimately were killed in the fire, including a yearold child. It was the city’s deadliest blaze in more than 25 years.

Vilensky represents eight residents who were injured and the family members of three people who died. He has already filed a $110 million notice to sue the city, claiming child-welfare workers were aware that Fuger had a history of not watching her boy, but did nothing.

And while stove-safety devices are not required by law, another fire-prevention method is — selfclosing doors.

Vilensky said the fire spread when Fuger fled the apartment with her kids and the door stayed open.

Fuger “complained many times that her door did not automatically close,” Vilensky said.

Fuger’s door was removed from the unit, but Vilensky inspected the doors of the other units and allegedly found that most did not close on their own because of busted springs and multiple coats of paint.

D & A Equities and the Fire Department did not return calls for comment.

WHAT IF: This stove from a unit in the Dec. 28 Bronx building fire (inset) lacks child-safety knobs. The cheap fix might have prevented the blaze that killed 12 people, and a 13th victim who later died at a hospital.