Overloaded power strips caused the fatal Trump Tower blaze earlier this month, the FDNY said Monday.
“Cause of the 4/7 fatal 4-alarm fire at 721 5th Ave Manhattan was accidental, electrical — sequenced power strips powering multiple components. Smoke alarm not present in fire apartment,” the department tweeted.
Per #FDNY Fire Marshals: Cause of the 4/7 fatal 4-alarm fire at 721 5th Ave Manhattan was accidental, electrical - sequenced power strips powering multiple components. Smoke alarm not present in fire apartment
Resident Todd Brassner, 67, was killed and four firefighters injured in the blaze, which broke out in Brassner’s 50th-floor apartment in the Fifth Avenue skyscraper April 7.
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The cause has been determined of the raging fire that broke out in an apartment on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan on Saturday, April 7 that resulted in the death of a Westchester native.
The fire has been ruled accidental and the resulted of multiple power strips overloaded by electronic devices, the FDNY said.
"Overloaded electrical outlets are one of the major causes of residential fires," sai d the FDNY. "Remember, power strips and surge protectors don’t provide more power, and extension cords are for temporary use only. Always plug appliances directly into wall outlets."
There were no smoke alarms in the apartment, the FDNY said.
The blaze, which was upgraded from three alarms to four alarms, erupted at the 58-story, 664-foot high mixed-use skyscraper on Fifth Avenue near West 56th Street just before 6 p.m. April 7.
Firefighters found the Westchester native, identified as 67-year-old Todd Brassner, unconscious and unresponsive when they entered the apartment.
"The apartment was entirely on fire," FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. "Members pushed in heroically, they were knocking down the fire and found one occupant of the apartment who is in critical condition."
Brassner was transported in critical condition to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital, where he died a short time later.
Four of the approximately 200 firefighters who responded suffered non-life threatening injuries, the FDNY said.
A Harrison native, Brassner was a 1969 graduate of the New Rochelle Academy, a private school that closed in 1987.