Concerns About Building Construction

By Phil Gregory, WBGO News February 25, 2015

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The fire that destroyed an Edgewater apartment complex last month and displaced 400 residents is raising concern about construction in New Jersey.

Officials are concerned that the type of frame construction that allowed the fire to spread in the Avalon Bay complex will be used in apartment units the company plans to build in Wayne and Princeton.

Mayor Liz Lempert says AvalonBay has agreed to make improvements that go beyond the fire codes at its Princeton site.

Theyre going to be putting sprinklers not just in the finished spaces but also in the void spaces in between the walls and in the attics. The second major improvement theyre making is to install masonry firewalls within the complex that go from the basement to the roof.

Lempert says shed like those safety improvements to become a statewide requirement.

She says Princeton is considering a law that would require frequent inspections to maintain the integrity of firewalls.

You can have people coming in to lay wire or put in cabling and if they make a hole in the firewall to run those cables or run those wires, it then breaches the firewall and makes it not as effective.

State Assemblyman Scott Rumana has introduced legislation to put a moratorium on using light-frame construction for multiple-unit dwellings until the Commissioner of Community Affairs determines that it's a safe building method.

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Concerns About Building Construction