Edition: U.S. / Global

An Emergency Exit Had Been Blocked In Blaze in Harlem

Published: December 14, 1995

The Harlem clothing store where eight people died in an arson fire last Friday had its only fire exit sealed off with bricks more than a year ago and had a basement sprinkler system that failed to operate during the blaze, Fire Department and law enforcement officials said yesterday.

Even though the door was blocked, the building that housed Freddy's clothing store on West 125th Street passed its most recent fire inspection several months ago, because no emergency exit is required in a building that has a sprinkler system, said Marilyn Mode, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department.

But the emergency sprinkler system in the basement, where the fire exit was sealed off and where four people died of smoke inhalation during the blaze, never functioned during Friday's attack, said fire department and law enforcement officials who asked not to be identified.

Fire Department officials would not discuss yesterday whether the blocked fire escape and malfunctioning sprinkler system played a role in the deaths of any of the victims. But survivors said the sealed door gave them only two options for escape: through the front door, near where the man who had set the fire stood with a .38-caliber revolver, or through a small hole that burglars had smashed through the basement's brick wall.

"When the shooting started I ran out the front, because I knew there was no other way out," said Terry Waiters, an assistant store manager who was standing near the store's front door when the assailant, Roland J. Smith Jr., began shooting at employees and patrons.

A lawyer for the store's owner, Fred A. Harari, said the exit was closed off more than a year ago by the building's owner, the United House of Prayer for All People Church.

"The bricking up was done by the church and its contractors," said the lawyer, Robert Rimberg. "That area of the building wasn't even part of Freddy's lease."

But lawyers for the church said they were unaware of any sealed fire exit and were certain the building conformed with New York City fire regulations.

"Whatever the configuration of the basement is now, it is the same as it was during the fire inspection," said Malcolm Barksdale, a lawyer for the church. "I know there was a sprinkler sytem and I know it was operable. I have no knowledge of any bricked up fire exit."

Fire experts say that if the door had been accessible or the sprinkler system had worked, some or all of the victims might have escaped before being overcome by smoke and carbon monoxide.

"In all probability, fewer people would have died," said James O. Haworth, a battalion chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department. "Fire sprinklers play a significant role in keeping fires small and saving lives."

Seven victims died of smoke inhalation. Mr. Smith died of a combination of smoke inhalation and a collapsed lung, caused by what the police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. In addition, four people were wounded by Mr. Smith's gunfire.

Isardeen Chaitram, a Guyanese employee of Freddy's who was among those wounded in the shooting, said the door at the back of the store had been sealed by bricks because of a number of burglaries. Family members credited his survival to the fact that he was thin enough to squeeze through the hole that thieves later punched through the brick wall.

Mr. Chaitram said that during the assault, the overwhelming desire of the workers was to get away from the gunman. They were very late in realizing the fire had started.

"People wanted to get away more than get out," Mr. Chaitram said in a telephone interview from his hospital bed. "I don't know if people would have got out if the door was open."

Mr. Waiters, the assistant manager, said at least one other store employee had escaped through the hole, which was about six feet above the floor and 18 inches in diameter.

Fire officials would not say how far the victims bodies' were from the sealed fire exit or the hole in the wall.

Ms. Mode declined to comment on the sprinkler system and would not release a copy of the fire marshals' investigation into the fire, because a grand jury is investigating the incident. But she said that if the sprinkler system had failed during its inspection, the fire marshals would have issued a vacate order.

"If that were the case, the occupants would be forced to vacate the premises until the situation was fixed," she said.

The Fire Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said fire marshals were investigating whether the system was faulty or whether its water supply had been disconnected for renovation work that the church was having done.

Melissa Parks, a spokeswoman for the American Fire Sprinkler Association, said most sprinklers installed in commercial buildings are designed to spray between 13 and 18 gallons of water per minute in order to contain a fire and allow occupants to escape.

"There has never been a multiple death in a building where fire sprinkler system was operating as it was intended," Ms. Parks said.

Fire marshals also led police to another witness yesterday, police officials said. Chief of Detectives Charles G. Reuther said a fire investigator found a burned purse at the scene that belonged to a store employee who fled and had not yet been interviewed by police. Detectives interviewed the employee, a 20-year-old woman, and found she made "statements consistent with the other witnesses'," Chief Reuther said.

The only known witness who has not yet been interviewed by police is a store security guard who escaped the flames and gunfire, Chief Reuther said. Detectives have spoken to the guard over the telephone, Chief Reuther said, but he was "traumatized" and has not yet agreed to be interviewed.

Store employees said the guard was standing near the gunman when he first entered the store, but then fled.

Photo: At the site of the Harlem fire, Iya Omidiji, who said she is asanteria priestess, performed a ritual to send the dead back to God. She used candles, incense and placed several dollar bills on an altar and recited prayers. (Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times) (pg. B4)