A real hero

I'm still scratching my head about the fire that happened. It takes quite a bit to shut me up in my rants and ravings.

The fire claimed the lives of two men over the weekend, and may claim the life of a third victim – Demetrius Johnson's daughter Treasure - that has burns over 90% of her body – just stunned me. And she has a 20% chance of survival in one of the nation's best burn clinics.

How the hell bad was this fire?

I never read of a rich man running into a house to save his family. They have fire alarms that work, sprinkler systems, etc to cover that.

Not the building that burned over the weekend.

According to the neighbors people moved in and out as fast as you could blink an eye, even though the building inspectors said the house was safe.

Well, something was wrong.

Somewhere the system failed.

And the landlord lives in Brooklyn.

OK. That fired me up. An absentee landlord. (Pardon the expression,  but I really went off when I found that out.)

The house burned down because all the safeguards failed – fire alarms that didn't work, safety inspections that missed something, and other details.

How many fore houses have been shut down over the years?

Was there one that might have been close to the fire but was closed?

Too many questions.

I leave the following demands, as a socialist and more as a human being.

1. More building inspections and inspectors. People need to be safe. Something was missed.

2. More fire fighters, fire houses, and equipment in the different fire districts.

3. An end to absentee land lords. If you can't be at a property that you own in one hour or less, then how can you service it properly? When I was in college in University Heights, one phone call and I had a land lord knocking on my door, The owner of the property lived in Brooklyn. This is a joke.

4. A moment of silence for a real hero: Demetrius Johnson. I've done crazy things in my life. This man was brave saving so many lives without regard for his own.

Demetrius Johnson, eternally present.

Now let's fix the problems that killed him.